Strange Relationships
by Morrigue
Summary: Lizzie is saved from drunken yobs by Stefan and discovers that the Vampire Diaries really happened. The brothers find out about the books and Lizzie gets in way over her head when they all find out about the tv series. Strange relationships begin to form
1. A Lucky Escape

I'd been out with my friends clubbing and decided to get a bus rather than a taxi. I told them I'd be fine, after all the bus stop was a five minute walk around the corner, but when I got there I just kept on walking.

I didn't like the look of the drunken idiots with their hoodies up, so I decided to walk to the train station so that I could catch the bus and there'd be plenty of people around since it acted as a bus station as well.

I didn't bank on them following me as I ignored them and kept walking, the wolf whistles soon turned to jeers and swearing, then they started throwing cans at me.

There was nowhere safe to run to, the shops had shut and since it was pedestrianised anyway there was no one about except homeless people and drunks. I walked faster, not looking back. I suddenly felt a bit of lager from one of the cans drip on me as the can flew too close for comfort over my head.

My blood was beginning to boil; I turned to face them but noticed a boy in a leather jacket standing between the four or five hoodies and me with his back towards me. The hoodies staggered up to him, waving their arms and spouting abuse, to give him his credit, the boy didn't waiver at all. In fact he seemed to be talking to them, almost mumbling as I couldn't hear what he was saying. Whatever he said worked, they seemed to calm down and staggered back towards the other bus stop still shouting and swearing although this time at each other.

The boy turned to face me; he was gorgeous with deep green eyes that reminded me of a dense forest. "Are you alright?" he asked with concern, "yes, thank you." I smiled sheepishly at him; my temper immediately subsided in the presence of such a good looking bloke.

"You shouldn't be out on your own this late at night, it's not safe." He really seemed concerned about me and judging from his clothing and accent his was probably a rich kid from Richmond whose parents had a house on the banks of the Thames. But at the same time there was something about him, about the way he moved, that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. On a different level it had me curious as to why I felt like this, so I decided to be on my guard around him.

"I was going to get a bus but then when I saw those yobs I decided to go to the Station to get one. I thought this would be the safest way," he still had a frown of concern of his face.

"Why didn't you take a taxi?"

"I don't have enough money." He looked thoughtful for a minute, and then said to me "how much does a taxi cost to get you back home?"

"I don't know. I don't usually get a taxi home," he sighed and looked a little annoyed. "I'll pay for your taxi so at least I'll know that you'll get home okay. Come on, I'll walk you to the taxi rank to make sure you're okay."

I asked if I could take his number so that I could pay him back and he told me not to worry. As we walked up to the cab rank there were already a large number of people milling about, having staggered out of the big bar next to it that overlooked the Thames. A girl staggered out of the bar giggling hysterically and a young man who was similarly dressed to the boy who was escorting me sauntered after her, he grabbed her wrist and in one quick movement swung her around and up against him as he leant into kiss her.

"Hello brother. Won't you introduce me to your beautiful new friend?" Came a silky voice from besides me, I turned and saw the man with the leather jacket besides me. He was the most stunning man that I had ever seen with unusual coal black eyes- the type that you can't tell where the pupil ends and the iris begins.

"She's not for you, I'm making sure she gets home safely," said the boy in a cold voice. De ja vu began creeping in, but I couldn't think straight as I'd had a little too much. The boy was in between us but then his brother moved around him quickly and gracefully, almost like a professional ballet dancer. He took my hand and bowed low, kissing the back of my hand before I could stop him; I pulled it away as quickly as I could.

"I'm sorry, but I really have to be going. My boyfriend will be wondering where I am."

"Such a pretty girl shouldn't be out on her own so late at night, why isn't your boyfriend with you? He can't be much of a boyfriend now, can he?" My anger suddenly welled up; the boy put his hand on my arm and shook his head at me, a warning not to take the bait. "Now if you were mine, I'd make sure that I'd be here when you needed me. My name's Damon Salvatore by the way. May I ask your name or can I just call you beauty?"

I went into shock, I must have misheard. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" They were looking at me suspiciously now.

"Damon Salvatore." I gasped and suddenly realised who the boy was.

"Oh my god." I looked around helplessly, there was no escape.

"My reputation precedes me." Damon grinned."Yeah, your reputation for giving young girls a hell of a love bite," the look he gave Stefan was a murderous accusing one and I could feel Stefan's eyes boring into me in turn.

"Actually, I read about you in some books called the Vampire Diaries." The look on both their faces was blank; Stefan started to look around warily. "I don't think this is the place to be discussing this," he said.

"I think you're right, let's all three of us go somewhere more private, I want to hear what you have to say for yourself," said Damon in an ice cold voice as he grabbed my arm hard.

"Ow! Let go! You're hurting me!" I protested, but he didn't even glance at me, he just dragged me towards the big stone bridge that spanned the width of the Thames, ignoring the buses and taxis roaring past.

"Let me go! I'm not going to run away, I'm not stupid!" I was beginning to shout as the pain got worse. "Let her go Damon, people are beginning to look and we don't want anyone to call the police," Stefan said gently to his brother. "Besides, she's right. If she runs we can easily catch her."

Damon obviously liked this reasoning as he let go of my arm which now had red marks the same size and shape of his fingertips.

"Now tell us, how do you know?" Stefan's eyes were now a dark green and hard, his voice was as cold as his brothers. "I told you, when I was a kid I read these books called The Vampire Diaries by an author called Lisa Jane Smith. The first three were based on Elena's diaries, how she met you, the attacks in Fells' Church and how she had to keep Damon's attacks on her a secret to prevent you from attacking him and getting yourself killed." I stared at him accusingly but he raised his eyebrows in a politely incredulous way. "How many are there?" Stefan's voice commanded attention; I gladly turned away from Damon who I could have easily slapped. "Five so far, but there are another two being written."

"What are the other two about?" he asked icily.

"The fourth is about how you and Damon joined forces to bring back Klaus and the fifth is about the Damon being possessed by the Japanese things and him actually showing some regret at being a complete bastard for the past 500 odd years. At the end of the book you're locked up in some castle in another world and Elena and Damon have just been given the clues to find you so they set out on a quest to find them."

Stefan had gone white, Damon was glaring at me and my mobile phone was ringing. I answered my phone and reassured my boyfriend that I was fine and on my way to the bus stop, "I'll ring you when I get on the bus. Speak to you soon, byee!"

I turned to Stefan, "I've told you everything you want to know, I'm not going to tell anyone as they'd believe me anyway so I'm going. Thank you for saving me from those boys." I turned and started the walk back to the bus stop but he was in front of me, "I told you I'd give you money for a taxi. Here," he pulled a wad of notes out and held them out for me to take, I looked him in the eye and told him I'd rather get the bus and started to walk off again, a little unsteadily as I wasn't used to wearing heels and they were killing my feet.

Suddenly I was slung over someone's shoulder, making me scream protest. "If you value your life you'll shut up, my brother will pay for a taxi home for you, a gentlemen always keeps his word and a lady will take a gentlemen at his word."

"I'm no lady in case you haven't noticed, I come from a long line of peasants and I'm proud of it," I had to get my tuppence worth in somewhere. Damon said nothing as he took me back to the taxi rank where Stefan was giving a cab driver a couple of notes and glancing at me over his shoulder.

Damon put me down on the floor, looking amused at my red face and the black looks that I was giving him. He held me close and whispered in my ear "I'll be seeing you, Beauty." I could feel his breath on my ear and it sent a chill down my spine. "Next time you insult me I might not be such a gentlemen, I'd be careful if I were you."

I couldn't help my reaction, I know it was stupid but I was drunk and I didn't think, but then that's always been my problem. I brought my knee up between his legs and then my heel down on one of those soft boots, hearing him hiss in pain. I walked over to Stefan with my head held high and a satisfied grin on my face, his face was a mixture of shock, horror and amusement.

I thanked him and got into the cab which drove off while I told the driver my address. When I got home I decided not to tell my boyfriend about what had happened, he was eager to go to bed as he had work the next morning and wouldn't have believed me anyway. I just prayed that he wouldn't spot any huge crows on the way to work.

About midday the next morning I finally emerged from the house to get lunch, I didn't spot Damon lounging on the gatepost until it was too late.

"Sobered up have we?" he asked, looking me up and down. I wasn't one to care that much about my appearance, especially when hung over, so I looked a bit of a mess with my battered walking boots, flared blue jeans and a baggy jumper that used to be my Dads.

"Get lost," I spat as I brushed past him.

"That's not very nice after what I did for you last night, or don't you remember?" he sounded amused and smug which made me angry.

"I remember exactly what you did for me last night. You grabbed my arm so hard that I've bruises all up it." I pushed my sleeve up and showed him the purple marks on my arms, "I've got nothing to say to you, so go away and leave me alone."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." I glared at him, he was still wearing his amused expression, it made me want to hurt him in the only way I knew how but I had to bite my tongue. "I want to know more about these books you claim to have read about us. Am I right in thinking that you still have copies that I can read?"

I stopped and stared at him, thinking about lending him my precious copies and the consequences. "Do you promise me that I'll get them back and in one piece?" He raised an elegant eyebrow in surprise and amusement.

"I'll even sign them for you if you want," he grinned. I couldn't help it, I had to laugh at that one, "deal." I said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Just one thing though, if Stefan wants to read them then I've no right to say no. Just be prepared for fireworks when he finds out how you forced Elena to give you blood."

I turned around and went back into the house, I had no idea if I was doing the right thing or not but thinking about it I couldn't not let them read the books. I put them carefully in a carrier bag and took them outside to where Damon was still lounging; he didn't even glance in the bag.

"What else do I need to know? You're holding something back," he accused. "Read the books then I'll tell you. You need to read them first anyway, don't look at me like that! You're just going to have to trust me on this one okay."

He accepted this with a nod and then crossed the road and walked in the entrance to the business park where the old dairy used to be. I turned right and walked towards the main road and the park, I groaned inwardly when I saw another black leather jacket at the top of the road.

"Hello again Stefan," I smiled weakly hoping that he wasn't going to ask me about the books.

"I didn't catch your name last night." Uh oh, he wasn't in a good mood from the sound of his voice, "Lizzie Roberts, thank you for all your help last night. How much do I owe you for the cab?"

"Don't worry about it. I wanted to ask you if you still had those books that you mentioned last night." I grimaced and explained that I had leant them to Damon, which seemed to surprise him. "I did tell him that if you want to read them after him you can," he just nodded politely.

"Look, I'm really sorry about some of the stuff I said last night, I was drunk and angry and my mouth ran away with me." He smiled at me in a way that was probably meant to be reassuring, but just looked sad. "That's okay; I already guessed that something like that happened. I don't hold any grudges against him- yet," he winked. But I couldn't bring myself to smile, I felt like a traitor.

"I have to get going. I'll make sure that I bring you the books back after Damon's finished with them."

"Thank you. I guess I'll see you around then." Stefan smiled and walked back down the road, I breathed a sigh of relief and went into the bakers to get some lunch.


	2. All Fun and Games

I didn't see either of them again until the Saturday of the following week, my boyfriend had gone fishing with a friend or I had just been shopping for something to eat that night. The moment I started walking down the short narrow road I could see the sleek black Ferrari parked outside the house, especially as there weren't any other cars parked near it which was unusual for a Saturday. Sure enough he was leaning against his car with the carrier bag on the floor between his feet; his face was an unreadable blank mask. I couldn't tell if the books had pissed him off or if they hadn't bothered him until I got closer and smiled at him.

His eyebrows drew close together in a frown, not a good sign. Neither were the sunglasses that hid his eyes, I took a deep breath and went up to him. "So what did you think then?"

"I think that you need to broaden your reading." Short and sharp, he was pissed alright. "I'm not lending out any of my books on dinosaurs, especially not my copy of Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, or The Dinosauria." He raised an eyebrow and handed me back the carrier bag with all the books in, "why don't you tell me why you still have them on your bookshelf? I would have thought that you would have grown out of them by now." It was no use in trying to explain to him how the female mind worked, so I just came out with "for my own purposes." How I managed to keep a straight face I'll never know, but then again there wasn't any reaction from Damon, no clue as to if he recognised his own words being quoted back at him.

"How did Stefan react?"

"Why does my brother's reaction matter to you so much? If you have any feelings for him you're wasting your time." I had to laugh at that which made him look even more furious with me.

"You're kidding me right? I have a boyfriend who I am madly in love with and I have no intentions of going after Stefan or you or anyone else. I just didn't want you two to become bitter enemies again because of me,"

Damon was still glaring at me so I carried on. "Bedsides, I asked you just now what you thought of the books and you just started insulting me, so if you're quite finished I can go and have my lunch." I turned around and walked towards my front door, but his voice stopped me in tracks.

"Okay, fine. Everything that's been written down actually happened- except for the repentant bit, Elena's powers and for me setting Stefan up for those annoying creatures. That bit is the biggest load of rubbish I've ever heard."

"Well thank the gods for that. If you'd have told me that you actually did repent I think I would have slapped you." He looked at me with surprise and I felt my cheeks flame up, "you're one of the only reasons that I keep reading." He threw back his head and laughed long and loudly, my knees suddenly felt very weak.

"Ah, I see. I have a fan it seems." He grinned at me, but this time I met his grin with one of my own. "The great Damon Salvatore should have his own fan club; you have hundreds of fans that I know about through the net who write fan fiction, but I bet there are hundreds more who don't write."

"What's fan fiction?"

"Exactly what it says on the tin, fans write stories based around their favourite books, films, cartoons or TV series. There are probably over 500 different stories about these particular books and most of them are about you."

"Really? Well you'll have to invite me in to show me won't you?" I laughed and shook my head. "Uh uh. Besides, I don't have internet access here. Just go onto and , give me your hand." I took a pen from my bag and wrote the names on the back of his hand which he seemed to find most amusing. "You'll have to let me know what you think, and what ones you like," I was playing with fire but I couldn't resist it, I had to keep getting closer to the flames.

"Possibly."

My turn to laugh, like a giddy schoolgirl with her first crush.

"Well I have to go and start cooking some food for when my boyfriend gets home, I guess I might see you around then."

Oh I knew it was a bad and dangerous game to play, looking in his eyes you could almost see that he'd been around for very long time and that he wasn't scared to snap your neck if you even so much as breathed near him if he was in a bad mood.

"Oh I've no doubt about that. Elizabeth." He grinned at me and got in his car, I couldn't see him after that because the windows were blacked out but he drove over the little bridge very fast leaving me standing there aghast. I hadn't told him my name let alone my full name so how did he know?

I shook myself out of my daze and went inside to cook dinner. I put the shopping on the worktop in the kitchen and took a quick peak inside the cover of The Awakening; sure enough there was an unreadable squiggle inside the front cover that you could just make out the letter D at the beginning.

A couple of days later, on my day off I took a walk in Bushy Park with my new camera. I was determined to walk the three miles or so to Hampton Court Palace and take some photos of the Diana Fountain- built in honour of the Roman Goddess of the hunt, and of the red deer whose ancestors were introduced by King Henry VIII to this his royal hunting ground.

I stopped off in the woodland gardens, no dogs, no dear no bikes and a very pretty ornamental lake. As I leant over the wooden railing looking to see if I could spot any of the fish, a voice to my right said "don't lean too far you might fall in and we wouldn't want your pretty top to be ruined. Not with such an appealing neckline." I shot bolt upright and turned to see Damon half leaning against the railing with an amused smirk on his face; he knew he'd startled me. Before I could say anything back though another voice came from behind me, "just ignore him. He won't hurt you, I promise." I turned and grinned at Stefan.

"You're not going to tell me his bark is worse then his bite, are you?" Damon threw back his head and laughed; Stefan grimaced at the pun but still managed a chuckle. "Are you waiting for someone?" he asked, I shook my head. "No. Just testing out my new camera," there was something about Stefan that made me feel very shy around him. Perhaps it was because he was so sweet compared to his brother.

"Good. Would you mind if we went and sat down? We need to talk, nothing's wrong but I think you might find it interesting."

We found a bench under one of the chestnuts and I sat down at one end. Damon immediately parked himself next to me, any closer and he would have to sit on my lap, earning a glare (and rightly so) from Stefan.

"Damon showed me those two websites about fan fiction," began Stefan. My eyes widened in panic, what would he have made of the slash fics? And what about some of the other stories where Elena left him for Damon? Stefan just smiled and said "while I don't particularly like some of them, I'm just glad that most of it on there seems to be about Damon," who promptly flashed one of his charming smiles at me. "I think I might track some of them down you know, some of those stories are quite amusing."

"Anyway. As I was about to say, as you're more familiar with the sites and the people than we are, we wanted to ask you if you wouldn't mind being our eyes and ears so to speak about anything new that goes on, like a new book or something like that." I looked at Damon and then at Stefan, they were actually serious. "Of course I will! Why would I say no?" I could have sworn Stefan winked at me when he said "well it would mean that you would need my e-mail address and cell number,"

"You can have my e-mail address as well Elizabeth, you would have to let me know if you write anymore stories about me," said Damon. Stefan looked surprised, Damon looked amused and I went bright red, it was one of those I want the ground to open up now and swallow me please. "**You** write fan fiction?! Dare I ask which ones?"

"Used to, a few years ago now but only a couple about Damon," I felt myself going more and more red by the second. "Can I ask why I wasn't in them?"

If it wasn't one winding me up it was the other, Damon was enjoying this as well, watching every muscle on my face which was very unnerving. "You were in one little brother, she just didn't finish it. Do you think I should influence her to finish it? We could come up with an ending between the two of us and make her write it."

"Oh now you two are being mean!" I exclaimed. "There I am doing you two a favour and then you go and start to be mean and horrible to me." Both of them just laughed as if to prove a point, then Damon suddenly jumped up from the bench and took a photo of me before I had the chance to blink and I suddenly realised that he had my new camera.

"Let's give your camera a try shall we?" he said as he took a picture of Stefan, who was looking a little annoyed at Damon's behaviour. "Okay then, you can take one of Stefan and I. Then I'll take one of you two together." I suggested as Stefan moved down the bench and put his arm over my shoulders for the shot, "how about I take one of you and Damon together?"

Before I could agree Damon had taken the picture and was standing in front of Stefan, "I'm always happy to have my photo taken with my favourite fan." Stefan and I rolled our eyes at each other, Stefan got up but Damon reached out his hand and pulled me to my feet, then without warning he was standing behind me and both hands on my waist and I could feel his breath on my neck which was making all the hairs on the back stand on end. As Stefan held the camera up an image suddenly formed in my mind of a pose Damon wanted me to strike and I had to bite my lip to prevent me from grinning and giving the game away.

"Is it on the count of 3 Stefan?" I asked.

"Yes, what's wrong Damon?" His face suddenly serious, I turned slightly and saw Damon's head bent down.

"He's just re-tying my dress. My bow's come undone, sorry." Damon chuckled quietly behind my back; Stefan relaxed for a second then held the camera up again. I leant back slightly and heard Stefan's count of one, two and then on three I let my head drop back exposing my neck and closed my eyes, I felt Damon's breath on my neck and in that split second I heard the shutter sound on the camera.

Damon's hands went from round my waist; I stood up properly and grinned at Stefan who was standing right in front of me. "What was that?! Are you trying to get us exposed?!" He glared at me, his eyes had turned a hard dark green and then he turned the gaze to Damon as he said it.

"It was only a joke Stefan, people take silly pictures all the time and there's no one near us at the moment. If there were then I wouldn't have gone along with it, but I'm sorry if I upset you." Stefan sighed and shook his head, "you're not sorry, I saw that grin on your face so don't deny it. You thought it was funny."

He handed the camera back to me and I gave him sheepish smile, I pressed play and looked in amazement at the picture that had just been taken, Damon peered over my shoulder and a sharp breath in my ear meant that I wasn't the only one.

"Okay, you were blasting us for being reckless and irresponsible a minute ago but you still take a photo showing just Damon's mouth about to bite down on my neck," I accused Stefan. "There's no heads or faces in this picture, just his mouth and my neck. You utter hypocrite!" Stefan just laughed and took the camera back, "serves you both right! Come on, if my brother promises to behave then I'll take a better photo of both of you." I turned to Damon who seemed very amused by the whole kafuffle, but nodded. So this time he just stood next to me with his arm around my shoulders and we smiled for the camera.

Stefan handed back my camera to me and produced a piece of paper with two beautifully written e-mail addresses and a mobile number on it. "I'm sticking around here for a while, the girls come back next week from Scotland, so if you need me there's my mobile number okay?" so I smiled and said thank you.

Damon seemed quite bored now and said to me; "my brother's given you my e-mail address, if there are any new developments with the books then let me know," then he turned on his heel and walked away.


	3. Friends

I put the piece of paper in the pocket of my dress, and watched him as he walked out of the gardens, almost hypnotised by the graceful way that he walked.

"Where are you off to now?" asked Stefan gently, shaking me out of my thoughts. "Oh. I was going to take some pictures of the Diana as they've drained it, practise taking some landscape shots."

"I'm parked near there, I'll walk with you. If you don't mind that is." I looked up from putting my camera away, "course I don't mind. Don't be silly!" Stefan smiled at me, a mischievous glint in his bright green eyes.

"Well I wasn't sure if you wanted to take a walk on your own, or perhaps it wasn't me that you wanted to take a walk with," I laughed.

"You're as bad as my boyfriend! There's a certain easy listening artist I like and he's always teasing me about liking him," Stefan laughed.

There were a hundred questions that I wanted to ask him, did he get married to Elena? Was she a vampire or was she human? Where were they living now? But I was too shy to ask, so after a few minutes of awkward silence Stefan turned and asked "so if you don't mind me asking, how and when did you find out about the books?"

"Oh when I went on holiday I used to choose a book for the car ride down. I remember it really well actually, I must have been about 13 and I'd been going through a horror stage, I'd read Point Horror but some of them disappointed me- particularly The Vampire. I drove Mum mad that day as I couldn't make my mind up, but I kept going back and looking at them, so eventually I grabbed The Awakening and the Struggle. They sounded interesting so as I had two out of the three I thought I'd read a bit of the Awakening rather than wait 'till the car journey. I was hooked and I finished it really quickly, so I went back and bought The Fury." I grinned at Stefan, "I blame you for getting told off for being unsociable that week. All I wanted to do was to finish the books and find out what happened next."

"They've obviously struck a cord with you then, if you still remember them ten years later," he said. I laughed out loud which confused him, "what did I say?"

"It's nice when someone knocks ten years off your age. If you keep saying things like that I might have to switch my allegiance." Stefan couldn't keep the astonishment from his face; he narrowed his eyes and gripped my chin. "Say ah for me," he chuckled. I laughed even harder, "get off!" We stood there for a minute until the laughter died down, we had made it to the car park and I hadn't taken a single picture along the way.

"Well I'd better go. It was a pleasure to meet you properly Liz, keep in touch won't you?" I smiled shyly at him.

"I will. Thank you for the photos and the company, take care Stefan." He nodded and walked over towards the black Porsche, I walked away towards the huge fountain that sat in the middle of the road through the park as a roundabout. I managed to run across the road and started to walk down towards it, I'd never seen it empty before and was curious, a car hooted besides me, I turned and waived at Stefan as he went past and went back to taking pictures of the fountain.

From when I got home, twice a day I checked the web for any more updates on the books, interviews etc. When a story about Damon and Bonnie was posted on her website I e-mailed both brothers immediately, Stefan replied with a nice e-mail asking me how I was and expressing interest in the story, I heard nothing from Damon though.

Then a few days later the news broke that a pilot was being made of the TV series- I sent a text and e-mailed Stefan and sent Damon a separate but much briefer e-mail updating him. I heard nothing back from either of them that day or the next. Then as I walked out of work one day there was a black Ferrari parked right outside, as I looked at it the window wound down and Damon's face appeared, "get in" was all he said. I obeyed and he sped off before I could put my seatbelt on, not very happy either. "You got my e-mail then," he didn't even glance at me but kept his eyes on the road.

"Yes."

"Okay, so where are we going?"

"To have a chat."

"About what?"

"About your e-mail." I could feel my temper starting to bubble; it was like getting blood from a stone.

"Why are going to have a chat about my e-mail? I don't have any other information other than what I've sent you. I checked just before I left work." He didn't answer, just kept his eyes on the road, "Damon, will you please tell me what's going on?"

"Stefan called me and asked him to bring you back to his place to have a chat and perhaps some tea and biscuits if you're good." I shook my head in frustration, "you could have told me that at the beginning," I mumbled. Damon said nothing but kept driving, I took my phone out of my pocket and managed to log onto the internet. The news wasn't good; someone had gotten hold of the script. I peered at my phone trying to make out what was written when a cold voice asked me what I was looking at. "I'll show you when we get to Stefans' place, after I've had my tea and biscuits," I grinned at him sarcastically. He laughed and which annoyed me, but I suppose it was better then him getting angry and throwing me out of the car.

We drove all the way to Richmond, we stopped outside some flats near the park and Damon switched the engine off and got out. I went to open the car door but he was there already holding it open for me and as soon as I was out the door was shut behind me and the car locked. Damon led the way into the front entrance as he seemed to know the security code and went to go up the stairs when I asked him what floor we needed to go to. "Why? Something the matter with your legs?" he sneered.

"Actually there is. The muscles behind my knees don't work properly and climbing stairs is really difficult and painful for me. If you don't like lifts tell me the floor and I'll meet you up there." Damon looked surprised but came back down and we waited for the lift.

"Did my e-mail upset you or have I offended you?" We got in the lift and Damon pressed the fifth floor. "Why would you think that?"

"You ordered me to get in your car, you've barely said a word to me on the way here and now you're sniping at me."

"Why should I be nice to you? You're just a human. You're nothing to me, just a silly young woman who thinks that she can change me, can see into my soul and make me care about her. You and hundreds of others," he snapped, his eyes no longer had any of those dancing lights in them. They were cold, hard and black. "You know what? There's only one bit of your little statement that's true, I stupidly thought that we were on good terms and that one day you might think of me as a friend, after all, it's not as if I've had a thank you from you for doing your dirty work and warning you of everything that's going on. Oh well, serves me right for wanting to be friends with a heartless monster like you that threatens 5 year olds so he can have their elder sister just because he can't bear to see her with his younger brother." My blood was boiling and my words hit home, he was furious and his fist shot past my face at lightening speed into the mirrored glass in the lift, causing it to break.

"I'd be very careful what I'd say of I were you, one more foot out of place and your last thought will be regret over crossing me." The hairs stood up on the back of my neck and on my arms, my heart was pounding so loudly even I could hear it. I was that scared.

The lift door opened and across the landing stood a worried looking Stefan holding the front door to his flat open, I went to storm out of the lift but I felt Damon tread on my lace which I hadn't realised was undone. It was too late, I was already falling and although I could see Stefan rushing out to catch me he wasn't quick enough. Neither was Damon who I felt try to grab my arm but just missed and sent me falling instead of flat on my face, on my arm.

I screamed out loud at the sickening crack as I hit the wall sideways and fell awkwardly to the ground. As I lay on the ground Stefan had already rushed over and was trying to say something to me, I heard female voices come from inside the flat and I saw Damon's boots in front of my face.


	4. Unexpected News

Then the next thing I knew I was in the ambulance and they were saying that one of my friends had gone to get my boyfriend and take him to the hospital, my groan was misinterpreted as pain- they told me to hang on until as it wasn't long until we got to the hospital. I wasn't able to think particularly clearly but I wondered if James would go with Stefan, it never occurred to me ring him.

At the hospital I was subjected to rather painful prodding and then sent for an x-ray. Then I was put into a cubicle where I lay staring at the curtain around it, I felt alone, isolated and in pain, I hated being alone in hospitals. The curtain suddenly drew back and my pale and anxious boyfriend came in and kissed my forehead as I broke down and cried, while he held my good hand and tried to dry my tears.

"Why didn't you tell me about those two blokes from your books being real? I didn't believe the bloke at first, I was going to hit him for saying such a thing until he told me what happened."

"I didn't think you'd believe me. When they said in the ambulance that Stefan was going to pick you up I was really worried in case you didn't believe him," he just shook his head.

"It was when he said that your lace was undone at the time I knew he was telling the truth. When you get out I'm going to buy you a pair of shorter laces." I tried to smile though the pain, but the drugs were wearing off and there was no sign of the doctor with the results of the x-ray yet.

"Shame I can't tell anyone. Can you imagine people's faces when I say that I was driven down the Hampton Court Road at 60 miles an hour, and round that roundabout at 70 miles an hour in a Ferrari!"

My heart stopped beating for a second and an alarm sounded on the machine as my blood pressure and pulse suddenly shot up. "You were driven here in a Ferrari?! The bloke with really dark eyes, cocky and arrogant almost?" A nurse came in and checked the machine; she switched the alarm off and glared at my boyfriend before walking out again. "Yeah. The one who accidentally stepped on your laces as you walked out of the lift, he's waiting outside until I tell him what's happening." I relaxed a little bit, he probably thought I was going to blab or accuse him of stepping on my laces on purpose. Finally the doctor came in and told me that I had broken my arm in two places, he told me that both breaks were on my radius. And started to explain where my radius was until I snapped "I know where the radius is, I study palaeopathology of Late Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaurs as a hobby." The doctor opened his mouth and shut it again, I hated people talking to me in a patronising way and I was in a lot of pain as the drugs were wearing off.

"Well, um, Anyway. You're extremely lucky they're both clean breaks and you shouldn't need surgery, I'll give you some more painkillers and then we need to put you in a plaster cast." My boyfriend knew my moods and nipped out to update Damon. By the time he came back I was blissed out and ready to go to the plaster room, in fact I was ready to skip down to the plaster room.

It was another hour in total before I was able to go outside, by the time I was prescribed some painkillers to take home with me and my cast had dried enough for the nurse to put it in a sling. I was very tired when I walked out of the hospital and didn't really take much notice of Damon, he watched as my boyfriend Lee helped me in the Ferrari and did my seatbelt without saying a word. I thanked him as he got in the car but he ignored me. My eyes felt heavy as we drove home, Lee was trying to make conversation about cars with Damon who kept glancing over towards me. Eventually I put my head against the head rest and succumbed to sleep. What seemed like a minute or so later I felt and heard Damon in my head telling me to wake up, I looked round sleepily and found we were at home; Damon helped me out of the car with no effort but barely said a word. I asked Lee to go in the house and put the lights on, he seemed a bit peeved but I knew he trusted me.

When my boyfriend was inside I looked at Damon who was standing there glaring daggers at me. "Thank you for tonight, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"I'm not." I sighed, so it was going to be like this then.

"Fine. Whatever you want Damon, I've done my bit and that's all that matters. Night." I turned a bit quickly and felt a slight wave of dizziness, I was aware that he was standing very close to me so that he could catch me if I fell. "I'm fine, thank you. Night Damon." I turned and walked inside the house, only looking back to close the porch door but he was already revving up the engine.

"What was all that about?" asked Lee as I shut the front door with a sour look on my face. "I had a huge row with him before I fell out of the lift, he was annoyed because they're making a pilot show out of the books and he took it out on me. So we ended up having a huge row inside the lift."

Lee shook his head at me; he knew what I was like. "I tried to apologise to him just now, I told him I didn't mean it but he's just said that he's not sorry for the things that he said about me." Lee came over and gave me a gentle hug, "just give him some time," he said.

"Hmm," I said, unconvinced.


	5. Playing With Fire

The next morning after Lee had gone off to work Stefan came round to check if I was alright and to see if I needed anything. He seemed annoyed that Lee went to work when I was home with a broken arm but I made a point of telling him that two of us not working was too a good idea and he accepted it with a graceful apology.

He told me that he was concerned about me being on my own and said that I could phone him if I needed anything at all and he would be over in a flash, which was very sweet of him and as he walked out of the door he told me not to be so stubborn and independent as "it's perfectly acceptable to have to solely rely on other people once in a while." Needless to say I didn't call him, in fact I decided to drag myself down to the shops for lunch as usually there wasn't anyone home for lunch and so there was no lunch food in the house. My arm was throbbing and I was starving hungry as I made my way down the high street of the village, I grabbed a can of soup from the supermarket and was surprised to see a familiar figure leaning against the lamppost outside.

" I thought my brother told you to call him if you needed anything?" he had one of those amused smirks on his face which made me want to grin with him. "I think I can manage to walk down the end of the road and buy a can of soup. It's just one arm that's broken you know, my legs are fine," he laughed at that and took the bag with the can in from me.

"It has a ring pull on the lid- how are you going to manage that with one hand?" I laughed and again my mouth opened before my brain engaged.

"I was thinking of calling Stefan." Damon threw back his head and laughed long and loud, then with the bag in his hand started walking up the road.

"I find it rather disconcerting that I've only know you a few days and yet it seems that I've known you a lot longer."

"Is that good or bad? Or does it depend?" I asked, the vampire frowned thoughtfully before answering "I haven't made up my mind yet." We walked up the road in silence, it wasn't difficult for me not to think of anything as although my arm was plastered and in a sling it throbbed like mad.

We got to the end of my road and he still carried on to my front door where he handed me the bag, I thanked him and invited him in. Once inside he opened the soup for me and as it was cooking in the microwave he leant against the kitchen door frame watching me with a thoughtful frown on his face; "penny for them," I said. Damon looked just looked blankly at me. "Penny for your thoughts- what are you thinking?"

"I was looking at some forums today. It seems you're not that stupid after all compared to some of the people on there." I laughed briefly and gave him my best mischievous grin, "careful. That's almost a compliment Damon." He winked at me and flashed me one of those deadly smiles that could make a girl's knees go weak in 2 seconds flat, "perhaps it was meant as a compliment. I was surprised by the amount of girls who have said that they would welcome me with open arms if I were to feed from them and it seems as though there are a few who want me to make them vampires so we can be together forever." He shook his head but I chuckled under my breath as I struggled to get the soup out of the microwave one handed.

Damon was suddenly next to me and took the bowl from the microwave and placed it on the dining room table. I sat down to eat it and he sat opposite me watching my every reaction to what he said. "Why me though? I would have thought that as my brother comes across as the hero girls would be fixated on him." I grinned so much I had to stop eating otherwise my soup would have spilled.

"Well everyone loves a man who's misunderstood- you're the bad boy who isn't really all that bad. Plus a lot of people say that Stefan comes across as a whiner in the book- feeling sorry for himself a lot of the time and he has Elena." I shrugged my shoulders hoping that I came across as indifferent and not too bothered, but he stared at me as though he was trying to figure me out.

"Is that so?" he had one of those oh so amused smiles on his face so I had to be careful with what I was saying. "Why don't you just look online? I'm sure that would answer all your questions and more," he just laughed at that. "But that wouldn't be as much fun now, would it?" All I could do was to laugh and shake my head, I wasn't going to let him get to me.

"It won't work so don't even try. Anyway, I'd have thought it's more fun online because people make comments more freely online when they're hiding behind a computer." He laughed and stood up watching me with those dark eyes dancing with lights as he walked towards the front door with the posture of a dancer only infinitely more graceful. "Well I must bid you farewell for now piccolina, but I'll be keeping my eye on you and if you don't want my brother to find out that you've disobeyed him then I'd be careful if I were you." I laughed at his little mock threat and got up to make sure he got out the front door okay, "You can't threaten me or I'll tell Stefan that you think he's the hero." Damon laughed long and loud with me, when the laughter died he gave me a long sweeping bow and then opened the front door and then once he was outside in the porch he turned and frowned at me as though there was something he had forgotten and he had just remembered. "Incidentally you forgot a few things earlier when you were describing why girls like me. I believe you missed out your own description of irresistible and unpredictable, after all life with me is never dull- is it?"

My jaw dropped to the floor in utter astonishment- he had just quoted back a comment that I'd made on a forum a couple of weeks earlier in a Stefan vs. Damon discussion. "Oh! You, you- out!" But Damon was already outside walking down the road to where his car was parked laughing with that beautiful musical laugh that he had. I shut the doors and after I heard the unmistakable sound of the Ferrari's engine I finally let myself slump on the couch and go "aargh!!" in frustration and embarrassment.


	6. Surprises and Shocks

In a couple of days I was back at work and things were back to normal- well normalish. I was checking out the website at work and letting Stefan and Damon know about the pilot updates, such as the casting and the boy's surnames being changed to Whitmore along with their ages. This caused mixed reactions of Stefan being both upset at changing so much and slightly relieved that at least some of his anonymity would stay, Damon acted like he didn't give a fig one way or another and I was outraged understandably at the severe changes. This seemed to amuse both of them and at one point when I told Stefan I didn't think that I could bear to do it anymore he actually rolled his eyes at me and told me not to get upset as I had the real thing- this calmed me down a bit and I kept on with the updates.

Meanwhile, Lee got invited over to Stefan's one night so that I could get to meet Elena and Bonnie. The plan was a girly night in with plenty of alcohol and no men, but of course it didn't happen like that.

It started off awkwardly at first, politeness all round- each of us thinking about what to say to the other apart from polite chit chat, then someone decided to break the ice by flying in the spare room window upstairs. The first we knew of it was when he hopped over the stair rail and landed with a deliberate thud on the floor making us all jump.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I asked him, I was angry and stupidly relieved that he hadn't hurt himself. "If I'd have knocked you wouldn't have left me in so I thought this might be the best way to catch your attention. There has been an update on the website about the pilot Stefan and I thought we should let you know since you're all together." I glanced a look at the two girls, who were both as puzzled as I was, "this could have waited until tomorrow surely."

"What is it?" asked Elena sharply, a look of apprehension on her face, Damon took a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to me with a grin, there was a picture of a young man with brown hair and brown eyes on it. "What do you think?" he asked.

"First impressions- a bit too Twilight for me, but he does have nice eyes. Who is he?" I passed the paper onto Bonnie, who seemed to like him and then it went to Elena who took a quick look and went to hand it back to Damon who refused it with a slight shake of the head.

"Now take a look at this one." I raised my eyebrows at the picture of a handsome young man with piercing blue eyes staring out at me from the photo. "Aha. "The Whitmore brothers have landed," I grinned at him as Bonnie snatched the picture from my hand and started to practically drooling over the picture.

"It's Boone from Lost, he's gorgeous! They're both gorgeous, but which one's which?" Elena snatched the picture off of Bonnie and rolled her eyes at me.

"What?!" asked Bonnie indignantly. "How am I supposed to tell?"

"Obviously the better looking one's me," grinned Damon, I slapped him on the arm and told him to shut up. "The first one's Stefan, the Boone boy's Damon." Bonnie went a nice shade of pink and just went "oh" in a small voice.

"But the producers have had a change of heart about Whitmore. It's still going to be Mystic Falls however much you hate it and they're still shaving a few hundred years off our ages, but they've replaced Whitmore with Salvatore as there's been a few complaints apparently." He grinned at me and I grinned back.

"I'm not getting involved Piccolina, so don't even think about it." Elena and Bonnie looked at each other in astonishment and then at us with puzzled faces.

"I might have to jump ship now Damon. You're just no fun anymore," I pouted and he laughed making me laugh along with him.

"Are you two going to let us in on your little joke?" Elena asked.

"Damon thought I was going to ask him to influence the producers so that the pilot would be more faithful to what actually happened." Elena looked appalled but Bonnie was suppressing a grin, "ooh, Damon. You'd better reconsider if you don't want to loose your number one fan," she laughed.

"What's one less fan compared to the millions who are going to see the pilot and fall instantly in love with me," he shot me a sly glance.

"**If **they air the pilot. **If** the fans read the books, if not they'll be falling for hot stuff with the blue eyes." I countered.

"Oh they will, il mio dolce. Trust me." Cue all three of us staring open mouthed at Damon who was practically draped across the sofa by the door looking oh so amused and rather pleased with himself.

"I thought you weren't going to get involved?" I asked him, knowing now that with Damon you had to read between the lines. He shrugged at me and then winked at me again, "I'm not. I did my bit in getting the names changed, the rest is down to the producers and if the fans don't like it they can write another petition." Bonnie had sunk onto the other sofa in shock, Elena was standing by the fire looking totally gob smacked and I didn't know what to feel.

"Then how do you know they're going to pick it up? How do you know they're going to show the pilot?" I was practically jumping up and down with excitement and curiosity, what's more I didn't give a damn at that moment that there were real people involved whose lives it would effect and three of them were in the same room. "Because of people like you," I opened my mouth but he just held up a finger to silence me. "I meant fans of the books. I told you before Elizabeth, trust me."

By now he was standing in front of me in a very intimidating manner and it was working very well, I was having trouble even looking at him.

"Of course I trust you, Damon. You haven't given me a reason not." I shrugged, he took my hand and kissed the back of it which made me blush furiously then he laughed when he saw my face and winked at Bonnie who was looking more and more like she wanted to jump on him.

"Ahem! This was meant to be a girl's night in," Elena said pointedly from her position by the fireplace. Damon glanced at me and was about to open his mouth to Elena when I managed to drag myself back to Earth, albeit kicking and screaming, I withdrew my hand from his and it was my turn to smirk.

"She has a very good point. Thank you very much for the pictures which I would like to assure **will** be analysed in depth, I promise." That got a grin and a chuckle, he bowed low and wished us good night, then thankfully walked out through the front door.

After a minute or two of silence, when we could be sure that he'd gone; Elena let out a deep breath. "Wow. Just when I thought I had him figured out he goes and springs that on me."

"I don't think anyone will ever be able to figure him out. But that's part of his charm isn't it, the fire that's inside of him." Elena went red when we both stared at her. "He really gets under your skin doesn't he? You'd have to be a robot not to feel anything when he's around." Whispered Bonnie almost to herself.

"Well I'll drink to that. I put all the alcohol in the kitchen didn't I?" I asked trying to lighten the mood. I went into the kitchen to open a bottle of wine that they'd brought but they followed me- Elena to ask where the bathroom was and Bonnie stayed to have a little chat about our favourite subject.

"Wow. What spell did you cast to do **that**?" She grinned.

"I wish I knew." I laughed, "but to be honest with you I think we're becoming good friends." Bonnie snorted and handed me a glass of wine.

"Damon doesn't do friendships, you should know that. He'll be making a tally and you'll have to repay him in full later on in blood."

"I think you're both wrong. I think that he finds it all very amusing to be a character in a book and now a tv show, especially as he's met one fan and has discovered that there are hundreds more out there. Bonnie's right about one thing though Lizzie, Damon's doing this for himself not for anyone else and the minute he gets bored with all this you might find yourself in serious trouble, you need to be very careful." Nobody heard Elena come up behind us until she spoke, but I didn't want to listen to any of the warnings. It wasn't like that, we were just friends having a laugh.

"Of course he's provided you with a sufficient substitute- smouldering Somerhalder if you're into piercing blue eyes and evil grins." Bonnie winked at me, Elena gasped in mock horror. "Bonnie! She has a boyfriend!"

Both of us turned to stare at Elena who went a very deep shade of red. "I'm allowed to window shop. I wouldn't cheat on Lee," I protested. Bonnie looked pointedly at Elena who glared back at her- "he coerced me. I did it to protect Stefan, you know that."

"You weren't being coerced in that dream you had when you slept round Bonnies' that time," I pointed out. Bonnie gasped and put her hand over her mouth Elena glared at me. "How dare you. What do you know about my dreams?"

"Elena, there are currently five books about you, Damon and Stefan. I've read them so much I practically know them off by heart. Both of the boys have read them as well." Elena looked as though she was going to be sick, I actually felt sorry for her as she went and sat down.

"I'm sorry." I said as I sat next to her, she looked very pale.

"Stefan said there were books about us and that you were a fan. He didn't tell me that he'd read them," she whispered.

"He probably didn't want to hurt you. I gave them to Damon to read the next day and after he'd finished with them Stefan read them, I was dreading it actually. I thought that they'd get into a massive fight over some of the things that went on, but it doesn't seem as though that's happened. Perhaps they've finally grown up."

Bonnie laughed, "it's taken them long enough hasn't it?" Elena relaxed a little bit and smiled, "you'd hope that after 500 years they'd have grown up by now, but I suppose with men you never know."

"I'll lend you the books if you like, just take good care of them as the first book is signed." I grinned and the two girls laughed.

"I wonder who signed it? It wasn't Stefan by any chance?" mocked Elena.

"I didn't have the courage to ask him to autograph them. Anyway, I leant them to Damon on the condition that I have his autograph because I knew he'd like that." My turn to go red and take a huge swig of wine, they just laughed.

"Well I propose a toast." said Elena standing up. "To friendships old and new, may they last forever." Bonnie and I stood up and all three of us clinked our glasses.


	7. Home sweet home?

As it turned out, Bonnie was as fast a reader as I was. She rang me the next evening when I got home from work to tell me that she'd read four out of the five books- she'd literally been up all night reading.

"I can't talk for long- but oh my god! It's almost as though it's all happening all over again. Some of it I didn't even know was going on, like Stefan feeding on birds- ugh!" I laughed.

"Now you know why I'm a Damon fan," she sighed at his name.

"We were a bit too hard on him I think. Do you think he fancies me? I mean, I thought he may have been after me but then Elena came back and he didn't come see me even though he was invited in my house."

"I'm pretty sure he does. I tried to ask him about it once and he put his hand over my mouth and wouldn't talk about it but he had a smirk on his face like a that's for me to know and you to find out sort of thing." Bonnie hmmed and sighed some more.

"What did you think of that scene in The Reunion?" I heard Bonnie give a sharp intake of breath, before she let it out slowly and said quietly "let's just say that I went out and bought some oranges. They're in the middle of the coffee table in a bowl right now- Stefan hasn't realised, he just gave me some odd looks. So did Damon when I asked him too peel one for me." I collapsed into giggles at this last bit, Bonnie joined in and we spent the next five minutes crying our eyes out with laughter.

Eventually we calmed down enough to say goodbye, but just as I went to hang up Bonnie stopped me. "Oh wait Lizzie! I forgot to say that Stefan wants you and Lee to come over tomorrow night as he wants to talk to you about something, he said that he'll pick you about seven but I thought I might order a couple of pizzas for dinner."

"Sounds cool. Okay, I'll let Lee know and I'll see you tomorrow." I hung up the phone and wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat as Lee was out for the night. I decided either I was in big trouble over something or there was something big going on that Bonnie perhaps wasn't privileged to, I could barely sleep that night worrying about it even though Lee didn't seem too bothered. He took me hanging out with gorgeous blokes with a pinch of salt, probably because he got along very well with Stefan.

Sure enough when I got home the next night Stefan and Lee were standing outside of the house waiting for me. "Sorry, I got stuck on a call at the last minute," I apologised after I got my breath back from running down the road. "You shouldn't have rushed. There was no need, it's not a matter of great urgency, but you can get your breath back in the car, I'm afraid that you're on the back seat." I grinned at him, knowing full well that there wasn't much of a back seat but men with longer legs like Lee took priority.

We got to the flat and found the pizza had arrived a couple of minutes before we had and was waiting for us on the coffee table- I noticed with glee that Bonnie made a big fuss about putting the oranges in the kitchen.

We sat down and Elena poured out the coke for each of us, then I looked up to see Damon perching on the arm of the sofa, he didn't say anything but flashed me a wolfish grin.

"I have some news for you Lizzie, we're moving out of the flat as it's a bit too crowded now and we feel we need a bit more privacy with everything that's happening." Said Stefan, just before I was about to tuck into a slice of Hawaiian, that he was looking at as though it was giving off some horrible disease. "Where to?" I asked, puzzled as to why there would be such a big fuss made over it.

"Here," he said handing me a piece of paper with a photo of Grove house, a 7 bedroom mansion that was grade 2 listed because of the lavishly decorated dining room/reception room whose ceiling and columns were decorated in the intricate Moorish style. It had a library, huge gardens with access to the river Longford and was spread over three floors.

"Grove House?! Wow. I had no idea that was even up for sale." I had walked past it countless times and peered through the ornate iron gates at the long wide gravel drive and at the Queen Anne style house.

"It wasn't," stated Damon, flashing another grin at me that made me look at him questioningly. "That's besides the point," Stefan said sternly to focus my attention back on him. "As you're renting your father's house until it's sold and you're both having trouble finding somewhere to rent, we were wondering if you'd consider moving in with us and you can pay me the rent that you're paying your father."

I stared at Stefan in amazement, my jaw hanging open.

"Oh my god! Of course we will!" I squeaked, a moment before Bonnie squealed and threw herself at me. "I knew you'd say yes!! I can't wait Lizzie!" Stefan laughed as I was crushed.

"Gerroff! Let me up, I can't breathe Bon!"

"Bonnie! Give the poor girl a chance!" Laughed Elena who stood up and came over to me. I got up and gave her a hug, "welcome to the madhouse," she winked.

"Thanks." I said and for once in my life I felt that I'd finally found a group of friends that I belonged to and that I wouldn't feel as though I was always on the edge of their circle.

Two weeks later I had told my family that I was moving, Lee and I had packed all our stuff and after several trips we had moved all our stuff into the house.

There was plenty of space for everyone to move about and not be under each other's feet, the dining table where us girlies and Lee sat to eat had a large bowl of oranges on that earned Bonnie some weird looks. Eventually he influenced Bonnie by using his charm and grace as he knew she wouldn't be able to resist it, thankfully she only melted enough to say that he could find the answer in the books which kept him occupied for a couple of days until he found it.

I was in my room and I heard a small scream coming from the bathroom that we girls shared, I didn't think anything of it until Bonnie came running into my room her face red and out of breath, she could only utter one word when I asked her what was going on and that was "Damon." So off I went to the bathroom to find him perched on the side of the bath with a short white towel wrapped round his waist peeling an orange very slowly. The site of a near naked Damon Salvatore rendered me speechless for a minute until I managed to snap myself out of it and told him to go away, so he sauntered out of the bathroom. Slowly. Very slowly past my room where Bonnie was standing at the door with her mouth on the floor.

I think Stefan had sensed our distress as he was suddenly standing in front of Damon and told him to go and put some clothes on, Damon laughed and scooted off at supernatural speed leaving his towel behind. Bonnie and I both let out the breath that we were holding at the same time, Stefan looked at each of us in turn and shook his head. "No more oranges for you two then, serves you right for winding him up," we both stared at Stefan in shock, but he just picked up Damon's towel and walked away. Bonnie and I stood there for a minute staring at each other, then we heard Damon and Stefan laughing and realised we'd been had.

Although Damon kept himself to himself usually, one evening I got bored with the television and went into the library only to find Damon reading one of my dinosaur books which surprised me.

"Good book?" I asked him, he looked up with that elegant arched eyebrow and grinned at me. "I'm beginning to notice a worrying trend here, most of the more advanced books that you have on the subject have bookmarks in sections to do with large carnivorous Dinosaurs." I laughed at that, "you rumbled me there Damon. I have a weakness for dead things with sharp teeth," I went up to my section of the library and grabbed one of my favourite Dinosaur books that had some advanced terminology and a scientific dictionary.

"Do you mind if I read in here?" I asked him, he frowned at me.

"Of course not, this is as much your library as it is mine," he said politely, "in actual fact I have some business to attend to. If you'll excuse me." He got up and went to place the book back on the shelf.

"Actually you're not excused." He turned and looked at me with a polite questioning look, " ever since we moved in here I've seen less of you then I did when I was staying at my Dads' house. Have I done something wrong or is it because you really hate humans that much that you won't socialise with them?"

"I prefer to keep myself to myself. Now you're living here I don't have to keep an eye on you- that's my brother's job." My mouth fell to the floor.

"Is that why I was asked to move in here? So you two can keep an eye on me?!" Tears were threatening in my eyes and my anger was rising, but Damon just looked at me with his politely incredulous expression "I thought you realised. I'm sorry." But he wasn't, I left the book where it was and went downstairs to where Elena was sitting with Bonnie watching a gameshow. "Elena can I ask you a question? Was I invited to live here so I could be kept a closer eye on?" Elena and Bonnie looked shocked, then Elena's expression of shock turned to one of guilt and I walked away back to my room with tears streaming down my face.

I could hear Elena and Bonnie rushing up the stairs after me, apologising, but I didn't want to hear it and put a cd on loudly to drown out their voices. After a couple of minutes they went away and I was left on my own, I started to look at flats on the internet when I felt as though there was someone behind me. Sure enough Damon was standing right behind me, "get out of my room." I said, but he just stood there staring at my screen.

"This is an expensive area. It would make more sense for you to stay here, no bills to pay, very little rent and you have Bonnie and Elena.."

"Who I thought were my friends and I thought that perhaps you and Stefan wanted Lee and I here as we were your friends, not because you didn't trust me. I'm sorry for being so stupid, I'll speak to Lee when he comes home and I'll ask my Dad if we can move back in until we can find somewhere else."

"Don't be anymore stupid than you have been already!" He gripped me by the shoulders and I thought he was going to shake me, he looked furious.

"I'm not staying where I'm not wanted or where I'm only tolerated and Lee's the same."

"You're being very foolish. Not many people would turn down an opportunity such as the one that you have."

"Just go away," was all I could say as tears were threatening again, Damon slammed the door on his way out and I phoned Lee and told him what had happened, he was furious that we had been lied to by Stefan and equally furious with the way that I had been treated by my so called friends.

Stefan came home as soon as he heard about what had happened and told me that he considered us friends and that was why he invited us to move in, but it was true that he also wanted to keep a close eye on us. I told him that we would be moving out as soon as possible, thanked him for having us and apologised for being such an inconvenience.

We were extremely lucky in that a couple of days later I was telling a friend at work that I had moved in with some people who I though liked me but it turned out they just wanted us to fill an empty room and things had started to get awkward as one of them really didn't want us there, my friend told me that she had split up with her boyfriend who she lived with and she was having to move in with her mother as she couldn't afford the rent on her own. Her ex-boyfriend was renting it out cheaply, so I dragged Lee along to see it that Saturday and we agreed to rent it.

Her ex was very nice to us and offered to move us the next weekend as he was moving his stuff on the Saturday but had the van the whole weekend, so we returned triumphant to Grove house after stopping off at a storage company to get boxes, bubble wrap and packing tape.

Damon didn't look up when I came into the library with some small boxes, it was only when he heard the rip of the packing tape that he looked up.

"Moving so soon?"

"Yes, a friend is moving out of her flat and we're moving in next Sunday." I finished assembling the box and started putting a few large books into it, then suddenly realised that Damon had one in his hands. "Can I have my book back please? I need to pack it."

He stared at me in astonishment and something passed across his face that looked like anger for a brief second but he handed it over to me and I out it in the box.

"Why don't you pack them all into one box? I'm sure my brother can lift more than that."

"Stefan's not moving us. Besides, too many books in one box and it might give way." I did up another box with a few heavy dinosaur books in and marked them, then I started to load my paperbacks into a larger box, I felt his eyes on my back as I picked up my copies of The Vampire Diaries. "You and Stefan can have these or do what you want with them, I don't want them anymore." I placed them on the table and he got up and walked out.

All that week we packed and tried to avoid Stefan Elena and Bonnie. Stefan tried to talk me out of it but I refused, Elena tried Lee who also refused.


	8. Ulterior Motive

So we moved out. It was sheer bliss, no more having to worry about vampiric hearing or treading on other people's toes.

I sang when I washed up when Lee was out because no one was around to hear my out of tune voice.

It was just after 3 months that we had first moved out of the Salvatore household that I had a not entirely unexpected visit from Stefan. We sat on the small sofa and he told me that he was sorry that he hadn't ever meant to deceive either of us and that he truly did consider us as his friends. "You left these in the library; I thought I'd bring them round and see how you're doing. You know the CW network is going to air the show in September, or do you already know that?" He gave me a carrier bag containing the books, I gave them back.

"I told Damon I didn't want them. If you don't want them then just leave them outside the door of the charity shop below, they'll take them in in the morning."

Stefan looked as though I'd punched him in the stomach. "Don't be like this Lizzie, please. I'm sorry for hurting you I really am, but you're my friend and everyone misses you and Lee, especially Damon. The house isn't the same without you."

"Lee and I are happy here thank you, it's been great just being normal for these past 3 months after 3 months living with you and Damon. Anyway, you're lying about Damon. He might have liked me when I was living at my Dad's house, but not when I moved in. He wouldn't come near me and I was in the library then he would walk out."

"Lizzie, you know my brother. He's never going to tell you anything that he feels, but you have to believe me that he holds you in great respect.

You were the closet thing to a friend that he had Lizzie."

"Look, if I was his friend then he had a funny way of showing it Stefan. I didn't think I was asking too much for him to come and sit in the living room with us occasionally and have a chat."

"That's not Damon though Lizzie, is it? He does things on his own terms and it must be hard for him to live in a house with 3 humans and me."

Stefan and I looked at each other, then Stefan sighed and got up.

"Do you still have my mobile number?"

"yes."

"Then if you ever change your mind call me. I'm sorry Lizzie."

With that he walked out before I could follow him to the door.

The next Thursday the doorbell rang at 10pm, Lee was out but I recognised the long heavy ring, so as I got up to the go to the door and it rang again I called out "give me a chance!"

I opened the door on my guard and ready to confront Damon, but he was leaning against the door frame with blood all over his face, his jacket ripped and his shirt was covered in blood.

"Don't ask. I just need somewhere to stay for the night, I'll be fine tomorrow." I was shocked at the state of him, but I motioned that he was fine to come in and he staggered into the flat and half sat, half fell on the sofa.

I helped him out of his jacket and saw that that there was a lot of blood on his neck, I tried to get a closer look but he shrugged me off. "If I'm letting you stay here for tonight then you're going to let me clean you up and tell me why you're here instead of Grove House." Damon sighed painfully, "I don't have to tell you anything and I don't want you to touch me."

"Well that's tough. My house, my rules." I said as I went to the medicine cupboard and pulled out disinfectant, a small bowl, 3 months I was well versed on having the necessary equipment.

"Right you, is it just your neck or is there anywhere else?" I asked him as I sat down next to him cotton wool at the ready.

"The neck and my right side."

"It looks like you've been fighting with Stefan," I said as I began to wipe his neck and under all the dried blood found several long, deep gashes. "Clever girl. You've learnt a lot being around us, haven't you?" He said sarcastically, I bit my lip and ignored the comment.

"Why were you fighting with him and why do you want to stay here?" Damon ran the flannel over his face and turned his whole body to look at me, "that's none of your business." He snapped. I nearly threw the whole bowl over his head for that.

"You've made it my business by coming here and asking to stay the night even though you wanted and got me out of your house," his eyes widened and then dropped to the floor. "I didn't want you out of the house. It was a test; I wanted to be sure that if things went bad you wouldn't go to the papers."

"You are such a flamin arse Damon and that's a load of rubbish. If you didn't trust me then why are you here? Why was I even invited to move in?" He snarled at me and his hands gripped my shoulders, I was scared of him for the first time since I met him- really scared.

"You want to know the truth? Fine, I'll tell you the truth. My brother thought that you might be in danger from anything that knows us for what we are and has seen you with us." He relaxed his grip and sat up slowly, I sat up and tried to breathe but I was furious.

"Well no one told me! I barely saw you when I was in the house- what am I meant to think by that? It's like you're ashamed of knowing of me as apart from the first time that I met Elena and Bonnie you don't come near me when we're all together and yet you have a fight with your brother and suddenly you're on my doorstep asking to kip on my sofa! Make up your flippin mind while I let Lee know we have a guest for the night." I stormed off to the bedroom and text Lee, the text that came back almost straight away said that he wasn't happy but if I felt he was to be trusted then it was okay by him.

I sighed and lay back on my bed, the phone rang. It was Stefan.

"Hi Stefan, are you okay?"

"I'm still… alive. If you can call it that. I take it he's with you."

Damon suddenly walked in without asking and sat on the bed with the house "Yes, he's here. He's staying on the sofa for tonight, if he's good. He told me the whole story at last. I'm sorry I snapped Stefan."

"It's not your fault Lizzie, I should have told you the whole story and he shouldn't have said what he did."

"Well that's water under the bridge now. I have to go, I just wanted to check you're okay." I hung up on Stefan and looked at Damon who was sitting on the side of the bed. "You need to be back in the living room, I've got to have a look at your side."

He grinned at me and slowly took his shirt off, showing his muscular torso that could rival any male model and he knew it. "Very nice. Now let's go in the living room where I can get a proper look."

He arched his eyebrow at me and I rolled my eyes, "there's not that much wrong with you if you're playing your games with me."

"Nothing that won't heal." He grinned, then winced as he got up and I shot over to him and got a look at the large deep gash in his side.

"How did you get these?" I asked trying not to sound shocked.

"I got thrown against a railing." I looked up at him in astonishment, he didn't look at me. "What the hell were you fighting over anyway?" I dabbed at his side with the cotton wool, I noticed that it was healing already but not as quickly as I thought it would.

"He said that every time good things happen to him I come along and destroy everything. He pushed me into the wall." He looked at me expectantly, "I'm not saying a word" I said.

"I see." He said and turned his head away.

"Oh don't be like that! You know full well that you love causing trouble for Stefan. You two need your heads bashing together to knock some sense into you both." At this point I got a bit over excited with the cotton wool and Damon sucked in a breath as he tensed up.

"What are you going to do tomorrow?" I asked him.

"Get on a plane and go back to Florence." He said through clenched teeth, "It's getting boring living with you humans." I couldn't say anything about that, I told him we were done and he put his t-shirt back on. "I'll heal enough tonight so that I can fly without any problems tomorrow, I'll be away early so I won't bother you anymore and you can go live with my brother where he can play at being human."

"You really know how to twist the knife in, don't you?" I said tears welling in my eyes, I got up and took everything in the kitchen trying not to cry.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he walked slowly into the kitchen.

"Just don't bother. I don't have the energy to explain it. You can sleep here tonight by all means and then bugger off back to Italy tomorrow." I dumped the empty bowl in the sink and the cotton wool in the bin, as I went to walk out of the kitchen he grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go until I explained what I meant.

"I thought you and I were friends but obviously I was wrong." I didn't look him in the eyes otherwise I would have started to cry.

"You disappoint me Elizabeth. I thought better of you than that," he said to me in that cold voice, but he was still holding onto my arm. "I disappoint a lot of people Damon. Did you still want to sleep here tonight? As I need to get you a duvet and pillow." I tried to struggle out of his grip but he held me firm, I looked up and saw his eyes were as black as coals. He sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm not like my brother, Elizabeth. I feed from humans, you are the prey and I'm the predator. Why would I form emotional attachments to the weaker species that I prey upon?"

"I'm not asking for an explanation Damon. I don't expect one." My arm was beginning to ache now and I told him so but he wasn't listening.

"Good. Now I need you to go to your room as I'm getting hungry looking at your pretty neck." I took a deep breath.

"If you need blood then take it. As long you don't kill me or seriously hurt me then it's fine." Damon looked at me through narrowed eyes, then he struck so fast that I didn't even have time to blink. It was his way of making sure that I wouldn't start all this friendship nonsense again.

It hurt, both physically and mentally. It seemed to take forever and afterwards I felt a bit weak and shaky, but I didn't look at him when he released me. I went to the bathroom and got the spare duvet and pillow out for him and out them on the sofa, Lee was due back any minute and I knew I'd have some explaining to do.

Damon stood on the living room watching me with a frown on his face. "I'm sorry there isn't a sofa bed or anything, but the sofa's quite comfy and won't do you any harm for one night." I stopped what I was doing and looked at him, he was staring at me with a weird look on his face.

"I've slept in worse places," I heard a key turn in the door and relief that Lee was home swept over me in a huge wave.

I ran to the door and kissed him as usual, when I turned around Damon was standing in the hall door. "I apologise for any inconvenience Lee, thank you for allowing me to sleep on your sofa and Elizabeth, thank you for the blood. I'll be gone early tomorrow so I'll say good night and arrivederci to both of you." He turned and shut the living room door leaving Lee glaring daggers at me, we went to bed that night without talking and the next morning when we got up Damon had left as promised.

Over the next couple of weeks I plucked up the courage to go back to Grove House and tell them what had happened, leaving out some details for obvious reasons. Stefan wasn't happy that I had given his brother blood but he didn't say anything to me, so over the next couple of weeks we worked on repairing our friendship.


	9. Stefan makes a decision

It was around that time that I had my handbag snatched from outside the flat one evening, I ran after the boy and even caught up with him. Unfortunately his mates were waiting round the corner and although I put up a good fight it was three against one and I got a black eye, some scratches and more than a few bruises.

I walked home feeling pretty numb as I approached the entrance to the flats, then I heard a voice beside me say "no wonder your nickname at University was Trouble, Elizabeth."

My heart leapt into my throat and a smile involuntarily spread across my face, "isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"

He laughed and stepped out of the shadows, he was holding my bag.

"I believe this is yours," then as he gave it to me he put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up as he studied my face.

"Well you'll live and those boys won't be bothering you anymore."

Then when he saw the look on my face his voice changed from amused to cold, "they'll live as well. No need to worry about that."

"Good, they'll have my DNA all over them, which makes me prime suspect if they were killed." I found myself thinking a little too clearly and then as I started to shiver realised that I must be in shock.

Damon put his jacket around my shoulders and we went upstairs to my flat. I didn't speak to him, but I took his jacket off and put a nice thick hoodie on instead, I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea but he followed me in.

"Stop that and come here will you. Lee will not be happy when he sees your face and no doubt my brother will voice his opinion as well."

I didn't understand but I walked towards him, then I noticed his wrist was bleeding and then suddenly my back was against him and his wrist was being held to my mouth.

"Drink," he commanded in a voice that wasn't to be argued with.

"I'm sure you don't want to go around with your pretty face all bruised and battered, do you?" I shook my head and started to suck on his wrist, his blood tasted hot and salty but there was another taste as well- a sweet spicy flavour.

He took his wrist away and we went into the living room and sat on the sofa, I thanked him as he sat there staring at me, then there was an awkward silence as I didn't know what else to say.

"I didn't go to Italy in the end, I went to America and managed to get on the set of the TV show."

He grinned as my eyes widened in shock and panic, "what have you done?" I asked him and his grin turned into a laugh.

"Did you know they're all living as one big happy family? Some of them have even moved in together. It made me think of when we were all in Grove House and of the Orange incident as you call it."

He winked at me and if I wasn't still in a little bit of shock I would have blushed, so I laughed instead.

"Poor Bonnie, she can never resist your charms," Damon raised an eyebrow and looked thoughtful for a second.

"I've decided that perhaps it might be fun to move back in. Don't look at me like that Elizabeth, you're moving in as well." I stood up and stared at him in utter disbelief, "what?"

"It'll be fun, think about it. We can - what's the phrase? "hang out" together and watch television, lots of fun." He grinned as I stood there with my mouth open.

"You've either gone soft or else you're up to something. In light of your little trip to Georgia, I'd say you're up to something, come on Damon. Spill, what are you planning?" He grinned at me and was suddenly standing in front of me.

"I'll leave you to tell Lee the good news when he comes in, I must take my leave of you unfortunately. I need to let my brother and his humans know that you'll be moving back in."

"What about this place? Lee and I are tied to a years contract unless I can find someone to take it over." He paused at the door and then threw a grin over his shoulder that could have blinded me if I had been in my right mind.

"Leave that to me, it's nothing to worry about," then he was out the door and I slumped back onto the sofa with a groan and slipped into a deep sleep. Lee woke me up at the third attempt when he came in, there was a bit of bruising around my eye and cheek and I had to tell him what happened, he was understandably furious that I had chased after them and gotten myself into a fight. He was also suspicious about Damon's offer, but as we were struggling financially he agreed to give it another go providing Stefan agreed.

Sure enough Stefan was waiting for me the next night when I got in from work, the look on his face told me that Lee had told him everything.

"How are you, let me see," before I knew it he was examining my face, twisting my head this way and that.

"I'm fine Stefan, honestly. Ouch! That hurts!" I pulled away as he poked an area of my face with no visible bruising, "no broken bones, you'll live. You might want to put some Arnica cream on your cheek though, it might take a while for the bruise to come out."

Men, sometimes they take this whole male protection role too far, I thought as Lee got up to make me a cup of tea and get some ibuprofen.

"So have you spoken to Damon?" I asked Stefan, he narrowed his eyes at me. "Yes, I have. I think he's up to something, either that or he had a mental breakdown while he was in Florence."

I nearly spat my drink out when he said that. "That's where you said he went wasn't it?" I relaxed a little, no need to panic then, "that's where he told me he was going, but he went to America instead apparently."

Stefan narrowed his eyes in thought, "what's he up to Lizzie?" I shrugged.

"I don't have a clue Stefan. I wish I did."

He sighed, but then a smile spread across his face, "well life is never dull when Damon's around, is it?" Lee and rolled his eyes and I laughed.

Our landlord rang me the next day to say that he wanted to sell the flat rather than rent it, he was very apologetic and said that estate agents would be round to take pictures in a couple of days.

I told Stefan about the odd "coincidence" and he came round that night along with Bonnie and Elena to help me pack as it was decided that we move out that weekend.

Damon was nowhere to be seen until Lee and I turned up at the door, then he helpfully assisted in carrying some of the boxes up to our old room. It was an exhausting weekend for everyone, but it was easy settling back into the house with Bonnie and Elena.

Pretty soon I was fixing myself spread cheese and tomato sauce sandwiches in the kitchen which made Stefan's stomach turn at the sight and Damon just laugh, although Damon was furious when Stefan called me a freak but I just laughed. It became a common term for me in the house, especially when they tried to pull rank over me for a laugh- peasant vs. the aristocracy sort of thing.

"I know my status is peasant thank you very much. You never had to toast bread with mould on it or cut it off the bread when you were at University, because you couldn't afford to buy another loaf Damon.

Or have one meal a day which was a chicken breast as there was nothing else to eat until you went home at the end of the week."

Damon pulled a face but Stefan was horrified at the thought which made me laugh and I told him that it was quite common and was all part of the fun.

"The more you suffer, the higher your social status gets" explained Damon patiently, but Stefan went off with a horrified look on his face shaking his head.

There was the time when I had Bonnie in hysterics as she had put on Interview With The Vampire for a laugh and I was quoting it word perfect. She was impressed with that, but what got her into hysterics was when Damon came into the room and saw me, he gave me a look called me a freak and walked off, neatly dodging the cushion that came flying after him.

Unfortunately I wasn't so good at dodging cushions and Bonnie set off into more hysterics when it landed on my face.

Soon it was the beginning of August, a month before the tv show was due to air in the U.S. I was in the kitchen making myself some lunch on my day off when Stefan stormed up to me and started ranting and raving about Damon, he was so angry he kept slipping back into Italian, so I had to calm him down to find out what he was so upset about.

"My brother wants us to reveal ourselves in America to promote the TV show and to get more people reading the books," he snarled.

I dropped the knife I was holding onto the floor and felt my face turn white.

"You're kidding, right?" I said, Stefan shook his head.

"I thought you knew," I shook my head, picked up my knife and went in search of the culprit, who was in his room playing some sort of classical music.

"Can I have a word please?" I asked when he opened the door, he stepped back and motioned for me to come in. He sat on the bed and I sat next to him, took a deep breath and asked him about his idea.

"Come to shoot me down in flames have you?" He asked coldly.

"Only because I'm worried about what's going to happen when people find out that vampires are real and living among them.

What'll happen if they've read the books and see the TV show? They'll jump to conclusions about you in particular and you'll get into some serious trouble."

He looked at me and grinned "that's very touching Elizabeth, but it's too late. It's all been arranged and they're expecting everyone next week. It'll only be in America and people will think it's just a publicity stunt." I shook my head.

"You're mad. I knew you were up to something, I just didn't know what. Please Damon, don't do it. It's been so great living with you and Stefan and the girls, if you do this then I'm scared that everyone will have to split up and Stefan's going to be as miserable as hell."

"Trust me Elizabeth," was all he said; so I got up and left his room. The girls were pretty angry with Damon and refused to have any part of it, until I saw something on a website.

The author, Miss L.J. Smith had revealed that the books were based on true events and that the people in the book did exist, although from what she'd heard Damon had changed considerably since she wrote the books. "Hmpf. Not that much," I muttered.

She also mentioned that she would be at a special screening with the cast in New Orleans and she was hoping that the real Vampire Diaries gang would be joining her.

"Lizzie?" Asked Stefan poking his head around my open door.

"You'd better come look at this Stefan." He came into my room and read the webpage with great interest, the comments to the post were from excited fans who all wanted to meet their idols, although most expressed their disappointment that Damon had changed.

"What do you think?" I asked him as he put his head in hands.

"I think we don't have a choice, he's got us over a barrel," he said as he stormed out of the room.

The rest of the day was spent hiding in my room as the boys fought over what to do, towards the end of the day as I was cooking dinner for Lee and I, the phone rang.

An American woman was on the other end of the phone and asked if she was speaking to Lizzie, then after I confirmed my name she introduced herself as Lisa Jane Smith and told me that Damon had given her the number when he came to visit her last month.

She said that she'd heard a lot about me from Damon and said that she was impressed that he cared enough to go to her to express opinions on Nightfall.

In the background I could hear raised voices and angry words spoken in Italian, "is that Damon and Stefan arguing?" she asked excitedly.

"Yup" I sighed.

"Damon didn't exactly ask anyone if they were willing to come forward and reveal themselves. He's just set everything up then told Stefan what he's got planned this morning, so cue the fireworks."

"Oh dear. I thought he'd changed," she said. I couldn't help it but I laughed.

"He has, he's like a big brother to me- they both are. Never let me have a minute's peace, always trying to educate me in what I should be listening to and reading.

But he's always going to be an arse in some form or another, he wouldn't be the Damon we know and love if he wasn't." We laughed and I heard some more shouting and the sound of a body hitting a wall.

"Excuse me a minute. I need to go and kill the pair of them before they wreck the house."

"Wait! Lizzie, I was so looking forward to meeting you, Elena and Stefan. Would you put Stefan on the phone? Perhaps I can explain things to him." I reluctantly agreed and followed the sound of their voices to the Moorish style reception room where Damon had Stefan pinned to the floor and his teeth bared.

"Damon stop! Please, don't do this," I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him off Stefan but he flung me off and I fell over.

"Go away Elizabeth. This is between Stefan and I."

"Damon, L.J. Smith is on the phone. She could hear everything that was going on and she asked to speak to Stefan, do you want me to go back on the phone and tell her that you're just about to kill him so he can't come to the phone? Because if you so much as scratch him, I will never talk to you again."

Damon snarled at his brother and let him up, Stefan glared at his brother and walked away. I let out a sigh of relief, threw my arms round his neck and hugged him, "thank you Damon."

He stood there for a moment in shock, then prised me off him, called me a stupid human and stormed off.


	10. Atlanta here we come

**Elena and Bonnie chose that moment to walk through the door, happy and laughing and then they saw me standing there. **

"**What's happened?" Asked Elena, straight away.**

"**Ha. Damon wants to tell the world that you guys are real and characters in a book. He wants it to coincide with the special screening of the tv show and has already set everything up without telling anyone. **

**I've just broken up a fight between Stefan and Damon, Damon's probably in his room and Stefan's in the kitchen on the phone talking to Lisa Jane Smith who is expecting to meet you all at the screening thanks to Damon." **

**Elena and Bonnie both stared at me with their mouths open, "I'm going for a walk in the park so they're all yours. Good luck," I walked out the door and down towards the park. I knew that I'd be brought up in a conversation eventually as I had recognised the boys from the books after all.**

**I spent the next hour walking round the park, then I made my way back to the house as it was nearly time for Lee to finish work and he always called to let me know his on his way back.**

**I walked into the house and was cornered by Stefan immediately. "I'm glad you're back, we just need Lee now." I stared at Stefan uncomprehending, but he just wandered off upstairs. I could hear the television so I went into the living room and found Elena, she looked up when she heard me coming and switched of the television. "I'm guessing from the look on your face no one's told you yet."**

"**Stefan just said he was waiting for Lee. What's happened?" I sat down besides her as I was getting worried now, but she gave me a hug and reassured me that nothing bad had happened.**

"**Stefan spoke to Lisa Smith and they had a long discussion about whether or not to go public. Damon told her that you recognised them from their descriptions in her books and her way of thinking was that it would only be a matter of time before someone else did." **

**Elena took a deep breath, she wasn't looking too happy and I guessed that she had been overruled in her decision. "He's going to do it, isn't he," Elena nodded.**

"**He's not backing down either. I've managed to convince him just to do it in Atlanta for CW so at least we'll have some sort of normal life over here, I can't get in touch with Meredith or Alaric as they're in Peru somewhere. Matt's not exactly happy but he moved out of Fell's church after college and got married, he's a coach for the college team now and his wife lectures English. It shouldn't really affect them unless someone remembers where he came from." **

**Elena shook her head and sighed, "I'm sorry Elena, none of this would have happened if I hadn't have opened my big mouth when Damon came up to Stefan that night and told them I recognised them, but I didn't think any of this would happen." **

**Elena looked up at me horrified and gave me a huge hug, " don't you dare think that Lizzie! If it weren't for you then Stefan and Damon wouldn't be living under the same roof and getting along! If you hadn't have told Stefan and Damon about the tv show then we would have all been in a state of panic when Matt phoned to ask if we heard about it. Thanks to you, we knew more about it than Matt and Stefan reassured him that he would be okay."**

**Lee walked through the door just at that moment, he saw our faces and looked at me questioningly. "Stefan and Damon have decided to reveal their existence to the world, so have Bonnie and Elena. They're flying out soon to Atlanta to meet some of the cast before announcing that they actually exist to the world at a special screening of the premiere." **

**Lee sat down with his mouth open, "this happened today?" wow, but what about over here?"**

"**Good question," said Stefan walking into the room and perching on the coffee table in front of us. "We'll need to see how it goes in America first."**

**Elena looked disheartened, Stefan held her hand and looked longingly into her eyes. **

"**Please Elena, I don't want to live in the shadows forever. Not now I know there are people out there who will accept me for what I am and who I am." **

**Elena shook her head at him, her blue eyes filled with tears. "Stefan, I love you with all my heart. But please, for me. Let me have some sort of a normal life while I still can, I like it here and if we go public over here then we'll have to keep moving."**

**Stefan opened his mouth to say something but shut it again, you could see the hurt on his face as the tears started to fall. **

"**I'm scared Stefan!"**

**I got up and dragged Lee into the kitchen on the pretence of finding something to eat, we did search through the cupboards and his cookery books but couldn't find anything.**

**Lee looked up suddenly and nudged me. I looked in the direction of the kitchen door and Stefan came in looking happy which was a relief. **

"**You can come out now you two, pizza's on me tonight, just go and choose what you want." Lee didn't need to be asked twice and fled to the living room, I went up to Stefan and asked if he was alright.**

"**I'm fine, we're fine, thank you. Now go choose your pizza before I change my mind," he smiled at me and it was a genuinely happy smile.**

**I shared a vegetarian pizza with Elena, Bonnie was starving and had a Calzone all to herself and Lee had his usual four cheese pizza. **

**We sat down to watch a quiz show with Stefan, for once was flummoxed on the answers as the round was about pop music and us girls were screaming the answers at the TV whilst Lee and Stefan sat back and watched. **

"**Well isn't this nice? Everyone playing happy families for once and no one thought to ask me." Stefan got up and turned to face his brother, who was standing with his arms crossed. **

"**I didn't think that you'd want to play "happy families" with us as you put it," Damon and Stefan glared at each other. **

"**You're more than welcome to join us Damon. Come sit down," said Elena as I moved up closer to Lee to let him sit next to me.**

"**I'll pass on the offer, I wouldn't want to intrude." Stefan looked at Damon and nodded, something was going on.**

"**Lizzie, would you and Lee like to come with us to Atlanta?" Asked Stefan, Lee and I nearly choked on our pizza. **

"**I'm on holiday with my dad and brother next week in Devon. I don't fly anyway," said Lee, "but Lizzie will go, won't you?" Lee gave me a meaningful look which meant go it'll do you good. **

"**Um Yeah, okay, I'll go. Thanks," Stefan grinned and sat back down. Damon had vanished, obviously not in a mood to socialise.**

**After dinner I went upstairs with Bonnie to sort out what I was going to wear as I had hardly anything that you could call fashionable and I had no idea what the weather would be like. **

**We put the radio on and the DJ was playing old pop tunes from the early 90s. I'm ashamed to say that we both ended up singing along to The Back Street Boys very badly, which attracted Damon's attention as he couldn't stand it anymore and came to tell us to shut up.**

"**It's not our fault that you have super hearing. We're allowed to sing if we want to." Bonnie picked the wrong time to stick up to Damon, he was in a bad mood for some reason and she wasn't helping. **

"**You can't sing which is the whole problem. Now either you stop or I'll make you stop, it's just about tolerable that you're playing this rubbish anyway." Bonnie stuck her chin out and opened her mouth but I pulled her back by arm and got between them.**

"**Enough! Please. Okay, we won't sing anymore Damon. I'm sorry if we hurt your ears." Damon glared at me and then looked over my head at Bonnie with something like amusement on his eyes for a brief second, then he was gone as quickly as he came. "Why'd you do that for? He wouldn't dare influence us," Bonnie complained.**

"**Because I want to keep the peace in the house," I grinned at Bonnie and dragged an old Now That's What I call Music from my collection, it had all the popular hits from the summer on it and that particular summer half of the popular hits were boy bands, the other half were bubblegum pop like Britney Spears' early tracks and the Spice Girls. Bonnie laughed as I put it on selecting track 2 which was the Spice Girls first hit- Wannabe, possibly the most annoying song ever, so we carried on sorting through my clothes with the volume turned up a little bit.**

**Sure enough a few minutes later Bonnie was staring wide eyed at the doorway. "Must you play this utter rubbish?" I grinned at him.**

"**Yes we do as a matter of fact. Personally, I can't stand the stuff you play but you have every right to play it so I don't complain. We have every right to play whatever music we want and if you don't like it then put some earplugs in or something." **

**I heard Stefan's laughter and his face appeared over his brother's shoulder, "unfortunately they have a point. But since this is our house, I think we should show them who's boss."**

**Bonnie and I looked at each other horrified, Damon and Stefan stood there grinning. "You wouldn't dare!" she said, both brothers gave her a look that suggested that they would. **

"**No they wouldn't dare. Stefan I'm ashamed of you! Picking on my friends because of their taste in music." Stefan turned his evil grin on his wife.**

"**What makes you think I wouldn't dare Elena? Perhaps I ought to start with you," with that Stefan picked Elena up and slung her over his shoulder.**

**Elena screamed and then they were gone, leaving the three of us staring after them. "Well, no prizes for guessing we won't be seeing those two anytime soon," I laughed.**

**Damon stood there staring at Bonnie who was looking in the direction Elena and Stefan went. "I wish I had a gorgeous boyfriend like that, my love life sucks," Damon disappeared again and we were left staring after everyone.**

"**Come on Bon. I still need your help with what I'm taking," with that we were back to the job in hand.**

**The days flew by and soon we were in Atlanta, it was very humid and thanks to Damon it was overcast. We had a day to recover from the long flight and then the next day Damon had arranged for us to meet Ian, Nina, Paul and Katerina at a café in Little Five Points.**

**But I almost literally bumped into Paul the day before as I was too busy looking in shop windows and not looking where I was going. He apologised, I apologised and he took a good look at me before asking my name. "I'm Lizzie Roberts, are you Paul Wesley?"**

"**Yeah, oh hey, you're Stefan and Damon's friend right? **

**Wow. I'm really pleased to meet you, Damon's told us all about you," he said. He saw the surprised look on my face and laughed, "did you want to grab a bite to eat somewhere? I'd love to know what it's like living with Damon and Stefan."**

**I agreed on the condition that his bite to eat wasn't me and teased him that I'd heard about his fangs which made him laugh. We grabbed a coffee and cake at one of the many cafés, he asked me what Stefan was like compared to the books.**

"**Good question actually. He's different to how he is in the books, he's happier and he has a bit of an evil streak in him which is quite scary 'cause he looks like Damon when he does that."**

"**Evil?" asked Paul, looking slightly worried.**

"**Yeah, evil as in mischievous sort of thing. He's great fun to live with actually and you can go to him with any problem and he'll help you out as best he can. **

**I've been doing a bit of family history research and some of the certificates and census records a bit hard to read, he's been a great help in that department. I keep everything like that in the library and there was one day when it was Stefan what does this say and Stefan what about that? Bless him, he was so patient with me and the next day when I opened my folder he'd been through everything and written it all clearly for me along with significant events he knew of like wars, the depression which was really handy for me."**

"**He sounds really cool, I can't wait to meet him tomorrow. I hope he likes how I'm playing him." **

"**I'm sure he will, I've been showing him the trailers and adverts online, so far he's really pleased. But I just think he's waiting for the premiere to make a proper judgement." **

**Paul nodded and said he thought that was fair enough, then his phone rang and he politely excused himself while he took the call. He came back a couple of minutes later with a grin on his face. **

"**Ian's round the corner and I said he could join us, you don't mind do you?" he grinned at me and I laughed.**

"**I think that would be great. Wow, Stefan and Damon having coffee with a human and getting along together." We both laughed and were still laughing when Ian came round the corner- with Damon of all people.**

**Damon was smirking, Ian was grinning and I groaned into my coffee.**

"**You know him?" Asked Paul, seeing my reaction. I grinned at him and gave him an are you serious look, "that's Damon." **

**Paul's widened in shock and he stared at Damon who walked over to the table, I got up and Damon kissed me politely on the cheek before Paul introduced himself to Damon and Ian to me.**


	11. Aftershocks

"So what were you two laughing about when we came along?" asked Damon, Paul ducked his head with a smile. "Paul asked if Ian cold join us and I was saying how nice it would be to share a coffee with Stefan and Damon and for them to sit and chat for a change."

Ian and Paul laughed, Damon smiled but there was no laughter in his eyes. I racked my brains to think of something that would get me out of trouble with Damon, "this is even better though, lunch with three gorgeous men. It's a good job my boyfriend trusts me." Ian thought this was hilarious, "I'd be worried if I were you, you're sitting at a table with two Damon Salvatores and the real thing has been teaching me a few things." Damon flashed a wolfish grin at me, I had to laugh as I hadn't thought of that.

"I'll protect you Lizzie, I'll be your saviour," Paul grinned waving a plastic knife about. That set everyone off laughing, including Damon.

"I hate to break up the party but Elizabeth has to leave as she's going to be late for dinner," said Damon. I looked at him confused, dinner with Bonnie and Elena wasn't until five thirty, I checked my mobile phone and saw that it was half past four and I still had to get back and get ready.

"Oh grief! I didn't realise that was the time! I'd better go. It was lovely to meet both of you." I got up and got a kiss and hug from both Paul and Ian, "we'll see you tomorrow night won't we?" asked Ian.

"wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll see you both tomorrow then," I got up to go but Damon got up as well. "Car's this way Elizabeth," I wasn't sure what he was up to but I followed him back to the Ferrari he hired for the few days we would be here. As he drove me back to the hotel I asked him what he thought of Ian, "he's no substitute for the real thing of course, but I think he'll do okay," he grinned. "What do you think? You're my biggest fan after all."

Ah, he was trying that one again was he? If he was flattering me he was up to something. "From the clips I've seen and from meeting him today, I think Ian will be great as you. I like Paul as well, I think he'll do Stefan justice. He can do angst without it coming across as whinging which is important."

"But what my brother does is a great amount of whinging Elizabeth. Or has your love for the books blinded you to the fact?" I stared at Damon, he was serious. "Actually, your brother is a lot of fun and a great sport. He puts up with a lot of teasing from me, although granted he stores it up and gets his revenge later. But I like that, he seems a lot happier than he was in the books," Damon cocked an eyebrow at me in askance.

"Explain what you mean by he gets his revenge on you later," I grinned at him. "Well, my grandmother was Dutch and I've inherited the Dutch taste in food- weird textures and flavours. Stefan wasn't exactly thrilled when he saw me eating a spread cheese and tomato sauce sandwich, he said it was disgusting as the sauce reminded him of blood. So when I knew he'd be around the kitchen again I made a point of making myself a spam and tomato sauce sandwich and I laughed when he balked at that, I said to him it was only a bit of sauce and I didn't criticise his food so why should he criticise mine."

Damon snorted in amusement, "what did he say to that?"

"He said fine so long as I don't murder pasta by making one of my pasta bakes. He caught me making one a week later, I tried to hide it from him but he caught me. So he got his revenge on me by making me sit through Twilight. He knows I didn't like the books so he thought it'd be funny to make me watch the film, if I didn't watch it all then he wouldn't give me back my Dinosauria book."

Damon laughed, "so I told him that by the end of it I loved it and that it's so tragic that Edward abandons Bella. He believed me right up until the point I said it was better than the vampire diaries," Damon was laughing hard now. "So my brother has it in him after all. Who would have thought?" I laughed at that.

"Oh yeah. Sometimes I hate the fact that you guys have supernatural speed and a damn good aim, the cushion he threw at me nearly floored me," I grinned at Damon who flashed me a grin back.

By this time we were back at the hotel, I thanked him for the lift and went up to the room, Bonnie had just come out of the shower and was drying her hair. "Hey! You're back. What'd you do today?"

"I bumped into Paul Wesley- literally and we ended up having lunch together. Then Ian Somerhalder and Damon came along- we had a good laugh actually. Ian and Damon ganged up on me but Paul came to the rescue by threatening them with his plastic knife." Bonnie gave me a weird look and I laughed, "you had to be there. You seem better then you were this morning, have you recovered from your jet lag?"

"Yeah, I slept virtually all day. I woke up a couple of hours before you came in actually, I haven't seen Stefan and Elena all day." Cue smug grins, they were as much in love with each other as Lee and I were.

I took a shower and changed, by the time I came out Elena was waiting for me.

We had dinner in the hotels' restaurant on Damon. Stefan and Damon had gone out to get themselves something to eat, Damon reassuring Stefan beforehand that he had a very willing pretty girl waiting for him. Afterwards we went out to a bar and had a couple of drinks, we didn't quite know what to do with ourselves, as is was still quite early but Bonnie and Elena had a big day the next day. Eventually we decided to get an early night.

The next day dawned bright and early. Bonnie, Elena and I went out to get me a suitable dress at the last minute and spent nearly all day traipsing round the shops, much to Stefan's annoyance. By mid afternoon I still hadn't found anything suitable, I resigned myself to wear the dress that I had brought with me which Elena had deemed unfashionable in the nicest possible way.

For once it was Damon who saved the day, apparently he could hear Stefan ranting and raving at me down the phone two doors from down the corridor, he decided to take action as it his younger brother was really annoying him. So he almost literally dragged me to an upmarket shop that had a dress in the window with no price but was stunning, I had no problems selecting three different dresses to try on, the only problem being is that two out of the three were so gorgeous and fit me so well I was having problems choosing, so when I stuck my head out and asked for the girls to help me decide Damon almost blew his top and told me I could have both of them. Problem solved, I would have a dress to wear tonight and a dress to wear at the premiere tomorrow.

Later that night, we met the cast at the restaurant. Nina and Katerina were just as nervous as Bonnie, Elena and I, until they set eyes on Damon. You could see the fear and amazement in their faces, but he was on his best behaviour and was extremely charming and flattering, which soon put them at ease and everyone started to relax.

Nina and Katerina thought it was "really cool" that I was living with Stefan and Damon, they kept Elena and Bonnie busy asking loads of questions. They wanted Bonnie to demonstrate her powers, although Bonnie was very reluctant at first I got her to predict which waiter would be the next to drop something and she was quite happy to do it. Sure enough it happened no more than five minutes later much to our amusement, but then the boys decided us girlies were having too much fun and wanted to join in.

I can't tell you how nice it was to sit down and have a laugh and a joke with people who knew Damon and Stefan for what they were. The four of them were really eager to do justice to their characters and were thrilled to meet the real thing, we chatted about the books and they heard about how I met Stefan and Damon. Elena and Bonnie clearly hadn't been told the full story, they nearly chocked on their dinner when I got to the part about kicking Damon and I couldn't help but grin in Damon's direction, but he just laughed it off. By the end of the night everyone was smiling and laughing, it was so nice and the best night out I'd had in a long time.

If that night was nice relaxing and informal, the next day was extremely stressful. There was lots of rushing around, Stefan trying to make sure that Damon knew to say that all of his girls were willing and to leave out the influencing part, which annoyed Damon who then went walkabout making Stefan even more stressed.

I had never seen Stefan worried this much before and even Elena was worried about him, so when he came to our room to make sure that Bonnie knew where to stand and what to do, it all got to me and I flipped a little bit. "Stefan! Just calm down will you! You're the one who's supposed to be calm and collected, but you're making me feel stressed." Stefan blinked at me in surprise and ran a hand through his hair, "sorry Lizzie, you're right. I just want to make sure everything goes according to plan tonight, there's a lot riding on it."

"I know. You'll be fine and everything will go smoothly, use the Salvatore charm and they'll be putty in your hands," I grinned. Bonnie sighed wistfully, Stefan and I exchanged amused glances. Damon had been teasing Bonnie for a while now, one minute flirting with her and the next he was ice cold. Bonnie on the other hand, had fallen hard for Damon and was nearly at her wits end, but Damon refused to discuss it with anyone at all. The tension in the house sometimes had been unbearable.

A couple of hours before we were due to leave, we met Lisa Jane Smith herself in the hotel's bar. Damon had arrived before hand and had already attempted to charm her, which I found very entertaining as each time he nearly had her, she pulled away at the last minute.

The others found it very strange meeting the woman that had written about such an important stage of their lives, I was so excited I was bubbling over, which Stefan found quite amusing and had to tell me to calm down as he could see me shaking, much to my embarrassment.

Ms Smith was a pleasure to meet, she was warm and friendly and told me that she was overjoyed to meet me.

I tried to keep away from discussing Nightfall but she asked my opinion of it which was very awkward, Elena stepped in just in time and told her that I was a massive Damon fan and that although she preferred Damon to be kind and gentle, I quite liked the bad boy Damon who occasionally showed a spark of humanity or even better which was Damon as he was now.

Lisa looked at me in askance, I tried not to blush as I explained, "he can be very mischievous and there are times when it seems as though we're friends and he's being nice to me. But then there are other times when he can be a right arse- if you pardon the language, but I'm sure he loves me really." Lisa, Elena and Bonnie laughed, Damon and Stefan had been getting drinks for everyone. Damon made a point of glaring at me, he had obviously heard every word that I said.

Soon it was time to go and we got into two cars, Stefan, Elena and Bonnie in one car, Damon, LJ Smith and myself in another. Although Damon was busy being his charming self to Lisa Jane, I got the distinct impression through his frosty politeness towards me that I had made him angry, probably by saying that he was an arse. As we pulled up outside the cinema, the driver got out and opened the door for Lisa Jane, trying to seize the opportunity I put my hand on Damon's arm. "Damon, I'm sorry if I've upset you.." but he shrugged me off without saying a word so I got out of the car on my side and followed at a safe distance behind the four of them.

The photographers had been warned off taking pictures with flashes, Lisa Smith was talking to press reporters saying that she never dreamed that she would one day meet the people behind the characters and how wonderful they were.

She then introduced the four of them and stood with them as pictures were taken and questions such as why go public now and from one clued up reporter- why haven't Bonnie and Damon gotten together yet.

While this was all going on I was given my cue to make my way into the cinema, so I tried to discreetly walk past everyone. The photographers and reporters weren't interested much to my relief and soon I was standing at the entrance next to Lisa Jane and a bunch of other people that I didn't know.

Then suddenly Damon held up his hand for silence. "Ladies and Gentleman, there is someone that we would like you to meet. She's been a big part of our lives now for nearly a year and without her we wouldn't be the big happy family we are now." I cringed but Lisa Jane seemed amused and grabbed my arm, suddenly Damon and Stefan were standing in front of me, both looking extremely hot in their suits. They gave me a sweeping bow so I gave them a little curtsey which made them chuckle, "come on Lizzie, your turn to be in the spotlight," grinned Stefan. I opened my mouth to protest but they already had their arms looped through mine as we walked back to the waiting press and photographers, "May I present Miss Elizabeth Roberts, our little sister." Damon laughed at my shocked face and told me to smile for the cameras, **you can call me an arse later Elizabeth, if you like, **came his highly amused voice in my head.

I found myself standing there with their arms around my waist posing for the cameras on both sides. The reporters were shouting out questions, how did we all meet? What was it like living with two vampires?

I gave a very brief description of how we met, leaving out the kicking Damon bit and told the reporters that I loved living with both of them, life was never dull with them around.

"Which one's your favourite?" asked one reporter, the three of us laughed at that one and I went a bit red as I said Damon was my favourite. Stefan pretended to be hurt by this comment which did make me feel very guilty, but Damon pulled me away from Stefan and told him that if he wanted me to come get me. I glanced at Elena who had a look of despair on her face, Bonnie had her hand in front of her mouth. This was a disaster waiting to happen, "don't Damon. Please," I begged. But Stefan had already charged at supernatural speed and Damon was even faster than his brother and dodged him easily, suddenly Stefan was by my side placing a protective arm round my shoulders. "Yea of little faith," he chided softly as Damon came up on the other side and laughed at my pale face.

"So you two haven't made up then?" asked a reporter.

"Oh they've made up, they just like play fighting sometimes and giving the rest of a heart attack. Their play fights can be pretty scary." The reporters laughed, Stefan squeezed my shoulder and winked at me.

Elena and Bonnie came up with Ian, Paul, Nina and Katerina. I went to slink off back on to the cinema but a hand reached out at the speed of light and caught me, I heard Stefan's voice in my head telling me to stay put. His mental voice was a lot weaker than Damon's and was more like a whisper than Damon's shout.


	12. All Fall Down

Bonnie motioned for me to come and stand up with them as the rest of the cast came up to join in the photo opportunity. I noticed Ian and Damon standing next to each other; Bonnie shot me a worried glance that made me smile. One Damon was bad enough but two? I was jumping up and down inside with excitement at the thought, although I could understand that it might fill certain people with dread.

I stood next to Bonnie and Katerina and then Stefan beckoned me with his finger and stabbed it next to him. I rolled my eyes and went to stand between him and Damon; he grinned at me and said "I'd rather have you next to me where I can keep an eye on you. Who knows what sort of trouble you'll get up to standing with Ian and Damon." Elena elbowed her husband and grinned at me, "as long she keeps them out of our hair she can do what she likes." I laughed and I heard Damon laugh as well, I looked up and he had strange white lights in his eyes. He was enjoying the fact that the photographers and reporters were all scared of him and he was playing in their fears.

Eventually we made it into the cinema and I breathed a huge sigh of relief, Stefan came over and gave me a huge hug, "I'm proud of you Lizzie. We both are, without you we wouldn't have known about this or the books and we would have been totally unprepared for this." I felt tears welling up but I would hold them back and not cry, "well just for the record, you guys have been fantastic. Thank you so much for everything that you've done for Lee and I recently, I love you all so much. You're like family to me." Bonnie started sniffing and then I immersed in a group hug with her and Elena, with Stefan standing slightly apart but grinning like a Cheshire cat. "I'm going in before I throw up. I'll see you all in there," I heard Damon say, I pulled back from the near suffocating hug and followed him in, although I noticed that the other three were walking very slowly trying to be discreet.

I saw Damon sitting in the back row and sat next to him, "why doesn't it surprise me that chose the back row of the cinema?" I grinned at him; he flashed me a wolfish grin. "There's nothing like snacking on a pretty girl in the back row in the middle of a vampire film," this tickled me so much as I could just imagine him doing it that by the time Stefan and the others came in I was in hysterics.

I stopped eventually and it was time for the premiere to start, it must have been weird for Stefan and Elena to see Paul make a beeline for Nina, rather than Stefan ignoring Elena for as long as he could. Although it was quite sweet, even if I had to give someone a sharp elbow in the ribs for making gagging comments, which earned me a glare that practically burnt through me into the seat.

Of course I was grinning like a madman when it came to the scene between the two brothers- Ian winding Paul up and telling him he could almost taste Nina's blood and when Ian and Paul crashed through the window only for Paul to end up flat on his face with no Ian underneath I couldn't help but hold my hands up to my face as I knew exactly what would happen, in actual fact, throughout that whole fight scene I had my hands over my mouth until the end of the scene when Ian walked up to the door of the boarding house and apologised for waking up Zach. I just went "ooh…" which I have to say earnt an amused chuckle from Damon, the rest of it was very good despite the fact that there was Caroline instead of Meredith. When Damon smiled at Caroline right at the end I shook my head, almost willing her not to be stupid as it was obviously going to end in Caroline being hurt in more ways than one, when the lights came on I was disappointed that there wasn't anymore.

We got up and made our way out to the lobby, Lisa Jane was talking to reporters when we got outside so I stood around with Damon while I was waiting for Stefan and the others. "So what did you think of it?" I asked Damon, he looked at me and said "I thought Ian did a good job" and that was it, case closed. He told me that he'd be waiting in the car and walked out, it was lucky that a couple of minutes later that Stefan and Elena came into the lobby.

"Where's Damon?" asked Stefan immediately, I sighed and told him, his face darkened. Elena asked what I thought of the show and I told her that I thought that despite my initial reservations I loved it, Elena smiled at me and tried to ask Stefan what he thought but Stefan was staring angrily towards the car. "Just leave it Stefan, please," I asked him, but he didn't even look as though he heard what I said, Lisa Jane called Stefan over as she wanted him to talk to a reporter and he seemed to snap out of it and went over to her.

Bonnie came out of the toilet and stood chatting to Elena; she seemed upbeat and animated which meant that she'd enjoyed it. I went out to the car and climbed in the back with Damon who was gazing out of the window, "what's up?" I asked, his face twisted into something resembling an animals and he snarled at me. "Go back to my brother Elizabeth and stop following me around like a lost sheep."

"So one minute you're introducing me as your sister and the next you're telling me to get lost, which is it? Were you lying out there?" I asked, more than a little hurt. "Don't be so stupid Elizabeth, if you insist on asking me anymore stupid questions then I'll fly back to the hotel," he was still staring out of the car window, his expression blank.

"I'm sorry. I just worry about you sometimes Damon and I thought that you might want to talk to me rather then Stefan, Elena or Bonnie, but if you don't then that's fair enough." I went to open the car door but his hand grabbed my wrist, I turned to look at him and the expression on his face was one of hurt and love, it was not an expression I ever expected to see on his face and I just wanted to wrap my arms round him as vulnerable men are my one big weakness, but the way he was holding my wrist I knew that wasn't an option. "Thank you for the offer Elizabeth," he said with a sad smile then he got out of the car door and started walking towards a nearby alley. I got out of the car and started to walk up to the cinema when something flew so low, that it brushed the top of my head making me duck instinctively. I looked up and saw a huge crow flying off in the direction of the hotel; I sighed and went back into the cinema where Lisa Jane had finished with the reporter and was chatting to Elena and Bonnie. "Damon went on ahead?" asked Stefan softly from behind me making me jump, "yeah, don't say anything to anyone, but I think he was a bit upset after the pilot." Stefan frowned for a moment then smiled at me, "he'll be fine Lizzie, don't worry about it, he's more than capable of looking after himself." I sighed and Stefan put his hand on my shoulder, "so did you like our little display?" I turned and slapped his arm hard; he laughed and backed away as I went after him. "Your little display nearly gave me a heart attack! Not to mention poor Elena who was having kittens just watching. Jeez Stefan, you could have warned us!" Stefan obviously found this hilarious as he just wouldn't stop laughing; he grabbed my wrists and held me there. "It wouldn't have been any fun if we'd have warned you though," he grinned.

"When you've finished beating up my boyfriend, can I have him back please?" asked Elena with a huge grin on her face, Stefan looked at her and was momentarily distracted so I tried to slip away but his reactions were too quick and he caught me. "You can keep him Elena, just tell him to get off me," I said struggling uselessly against him.

"Stefan let her go or you're sleeping on the couch tonight," Elena gave him her best seductive smile and he let me go. He went to stand next to her and put his arm around her waist, put she poked him in the ribs. "That's for picking on Lizzie," she grinned and walked out of the cinema, Stefan ran after her and a minute later we heard her scream. Bonnie rolled her eyes in my direction and I shook my head, Lisa Jane was chuckling quietly to herself. "Is this what it's like in your house all the time?" She asked Bonnie.

"No, it's not usually this bad. Sometimes it can be worse," we grinned at each other.

Bonnie and I shared the car on the way back with Lisa Jane as Stefan and Elena needed some time to themselves. We dropped Lisa Jane back at her hotel and then went back to ours, fawning over the pilot now that we were safe from prying ears, Bonnie liked Katerina's performance a lot but wasn't fond of some of the changes like missing Meredith out and Caroline in, "but what do you think of Paul and Ian though?" I asked coyly, Bonnie fanned her face with her hand which was confirmation enough for me.

When we got back to the hotel we started to pack as we were checking out the next day, I wondered what the papers would say the next morning; it seemed as though I was the only one who was really bothered by this. Bonnie lay down on the bed and announced that she was exhausted after the days events, as I went into the bathroom to get changed, when I came out she was asleep. Bored, I decided to find an internet café to see if there were any reports or pictures up yet, but as soon as I walked out of the room I saw a familiar figure leaning against the wall next to it.

"I'm guessing you would be the reason why Bonnie's so tired," he flashed a wolfish grin at me. "Perhaps I wanted to speak to my number one fan in private," I shook my head.

"You could have just used your mental voice to tell me you wanted to speak to me alone instead of making Bonnie go to sleep you know," he frowned but didn't say anything. "Come on, let's go for a walk and you can talk to me," I sighed. Damon shook his head and stood where he was,

"I'd rather stay here, it won't take long, I got this for you." He produced an A4 envelope and gave it to me, I opened it up and inside there were two professional photographs, there was one of me with Damon and Stefan and another one of me with everyone at the cinema. "That one's signed on the back," he pointed out, I turned the photo over and sure enough there were signatures from the whole cast of the Vampire Diaries. I put them back in the envelope, threw my arms around a very surprised Damon and kissed him on the cheek, "thank you. That's very sweet of you."

"Don't do that again and don't tell anyone that I gave them to you. My brother will think that I've gone soft," he frowned. "Besides, now I need you to do me a favour. I need you to get Bonnie to the Olympic park, by the fountain at eight tonight. Don't ask me any questions, just do it."

I couldn't help but smirk, "no probs. Shall I make sure she's wearing something with a low neck as well?" Damon snarled at me which should have been scary but I was in a mischievous mood so I laughed at him. "Oh come on Damon. I was joking, just chill will you? Otherwise I'll have to give you another hug." I stepped forward and he stepped sideways to avoid me, "don't push me Elizabeth. Just do what I told you."

"Alright. Thank you very much for the photos," I said, he bowed and walked off down the corridor, knowing full well that I was watching every move and that I had still had as much of a crush on him as I did when I was fourteen and read the books for the first time. It was something that we never discussed as there wasn't really anything to discuss- I wasn't his type and I loved my boyfriend far too much to act on it, although it was sort of an open secret in the house and we did enjoy some harmless flirting with each other on occasion.

I went back into the room, Bonnie had just woken up and was puzzled as to why she suddenly felt so sleepy. "I need you to do something and you can't tell Elena or Stefan about it. Promise?" I asked her.

"What is it? Lizzie, I trust you and everything, but I've been asleep for about five minutes and you come back with an envelope and smelling of Damon's cologne. Spill."

"He's gonna kill me, you know that." I gave her the envelope and she looked at the photos and the signatures, her face softened and I knew she was melting which was a good sign for once. "He didn't want anyone to know in case people think he's gone soft," I explained, "but he wants you to meet him at eight by the fountain at the Olympic Park. I think he's going to ask you out." Bonnie gasped and flew off the bed.


	13. It Never Rains But It Pours

**Please be aware that there's some string swearing coming up. If this offends you then please don't read it.**

"I haven't got anything to wear!" moaned Bonnie,

"Ssh! You've got to promise me that you won't tell Elena or Stefan." I pleaded, she sighed and finally agreed, so we went through her suitcase and finally picked a dress that she hadn't worn, I laughed when she pulled it out and her face fell. "You don't like it. Is it too low cut?"

"No, it's perfect. I was winding him up and telling him that I'd get you to wear something low cut." We both laughed at that and Bonnie went into the bathroom to have a shower.

Ten minutes later and there was a knock on the door, I opened it to find Elena dressed for dinner. "Are you two ready?"

"I am, Bonnie's not coming to dinner though," Elena's face fell.

"Why not? Is she ill? Bon?" She called as she forced her way into the room, then when she saw the dress laid out on the bed her mouth opened into an O shape. "She has a date? She didn't tell me," she sounded hurt, so I replied "apparently so. She's just told me that she was meeting someone and won't be down for dinner, you know as much as I do," Elena narrowed her eyes at me, but said nothing and we went down to dinner together.

After we came back from dinner, Stefan appeared out of nowhere making us both jump, he and Damon usually went out together of a night to hunt and although they went their separate ways, they usually met up somewhere and came back to the hotel together. Unfortunately Damon was nowhere to be found and Stefan was not happy, he thought that I might know where he was.

Elena is a very bright girl who knows her friends very well, which was bad news for me. "That's very odd, Bonnie went on a date tonight and hasn't told anyone who she was with or where they were going, now Damon's gone without telling anyone where he's gone," she glared at me and I squirmed. Stefan ushered us into his room and made me sit down on the sofa, "well?" he asked. "Is Elena right?"

"Yes, I think so. Damon just asked me to get Bonnie to meet him in town tonight and made me promise not to say anything to anyone. That's as much as I know, honest." Stefan looked annoyed and Elena looked really angry. I got the feeling that this was directed at me, so I got up to go and I nearly made it to the door, but Stefan was suddenly between me and the door with his arms crossed.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To my room. I've told you everything I know."

"Lizzie, Bonnie's going to get her heart broken by Damon. He's just playing with her, you need to convince him to leave her alone. He'll listen to you more than he does to Stefan or me," Elena pleaded.

I turned to look at her, horrified at what they were trying to get me involved in. "No, I won't do it. How do you know he'll break her heart Elena? Don't you think she knows what she's doing by now?"

Elena got up and stormed over to me, Stefan stood between Elena and I. He seemed to be given her a warning look and she went and sat down in a huff, Stefan turned to me and smiled weakly. "Because Damon's in love with someone else, Lizzie. I think that he's only dating Bonnie because… it's expected of him." I stared at Stefan in shock.

"Alright. I'll try and have a word with him, but I'm not going to push him Stefan. If he wants to date Bonnie then that's up to him, can I go back to my room now? I was supposed to phone Lee twenty minutes ago and he's probably getting worried by now."

Stefan stood aside and I stormed out of the room slamming the door behind me. How dare they try and get me involved in this, just because Damon had announced to the world that I was their sister, didn't mean that I was going to be their go between in whatever argument that they had going on.

I went back to my room and straight away phoned Lee, but he was obviously asleep so I left a message on his voicemail and switched on the television instead. The boys were the hot topic on nearly every news channel, it had prompted raging debates about if they bit a girl who was influenced then was it classed as rape? There were also those who read the books and were not happy about Damon as he had threatened a five year old girl and had been known to be violent- had he really changed they asked? Then there were the discussions about Stefan as well- he lived in the UK and he hunted in a royal park. Hunting was banned in the UK and especially in any of the Royal Parks, so was he breaking the law by hunting and harming wildlife?

I watched it for a little bit, interested in the discussion until things got silly and someone started asking about why they didn't sparkle like the ones in Twilight, that did it for me and I turned over, not wishing to hear anymore. For the rest of the night I flicked through channels watching whatever seemed to be watchable, until I settled on a music channel showing classic rock videos. Just as I was about to call it a night at 11pm I heard the door to our room open, I jumped up from the bed and saw Damon kissing Bonnie goodnight. Bonnie looked extremely smug and was wearing Damon's jacket with the collar up, she broke off the kiss and grinned at me before scuttling past me to "get ready for bed," it was impossible not grin back at her. She seemed so happy and Damon was looking very, very smug, which was also a very good sign.

"Speak," he said to me, leaning against the door frame. His good mood suddenly looked as though it had evaporated, I looked back towards the bedroom worried that Bonnie might hear what I was about to say.

"She's asleep for now. Would you like to go somewhere a little more private perhaps?"

I shut the door to the room and followed Damon to his room two floors up, I sat down on the sofa as he shut the door. "Well?" He stood in front of me, arms crossed like Stefan, but Stefan didn't have his brother's poise as much presence when he was angry. "Stefan and Elena seem to think that you're in love with someone else and that you're only dating Bonnie because the fans expect it of you." He raised an eyebrow but his face darkened considerably, "so they sent you to talk to me about it. But of course they would and you're only to happy to oblige," he sneered.

I stood up and walked to the door, "I'm not happy actually. They wanted me to talk to you as they seemed to think that you'd listen to me more then them. Personally, I don't particularly want to get involved but I don't want to see Bonnie get hurt. I've done my job, if you have a problem with what I've said, then take it up with Elena and Stefan." I walked out of the door slamming it behind me, more annoyed then when I walked in.

The next day we flew back to Heathrow, the weather was cold and overcast in Atlanta which matched my mood exactly. I barley spoke to anyone on the plane unless they spoke to me directly. The weather in London was just as cold, but wet with it, I noticed that Damon and Bonnie were all over each other and that Stefan and Elena were glaring daggers at the pair.

We got back to Grove House and I was relieved to see Lee, my mood lifted a bit and we spent the rest of the afternoon in our room, oddly enough the whole house was very quiet for the rest of the day. When we eventually emerged, it was to get a takeaway from the kebab shop at the other end of the high street.

To be honest, I was still in a dark mood by the end of the week. Lee was getting fed up with it and Bonnie couldn't understand what was going on, but I kept my mouth shut. Finally, it was my day off from work and everyone except Bonnie and I were out of the house, so as soon as it was safe she marched into my room and demanded that I tell her the truth. "Stefan and Elena seem to think that Damon is going to break your heart. Stefan asked me to talk to Damon for him. I didn't want to get involved but they were really pissed off at for not telling them that you and Damon were on a date, so I told Damon and he accused me of taking their side and jumping into a fight that doesn't concern me."

"Awww. Lizzie, you shouldn't have got involved. I can take care of myself, but I'm definitely going to be having words with Stefan and Elena. I know the risks, I know what I'm doing and I'm not letting Elena keep all the gorgeous blokes to herself." I laughed, it was good that she understood, I just felt rotten for not telling her the whole truth.

"Actually, while everyone's out. I found this spell in one of those really old books that the charity shop up the road sells, from what I've translated using a Latin dictionary, it looks as though it's a spell that can make you go back in time." I looked at her in sheer astonishment.

"You're kidding me right? That's impossible. It's probably been written by some loon for a joke." Bonnie looked at me with some pretty steely determination, "it's not. I'm going to try it, I've just got one more thing to get and then I'm ready to try it."

"Bonnie don't! At least check with Stefan first, if it goes wrong or if you've mistranslated something you could get hurt." I pleaded with her, but she wasn't in the mood for listening. "It's fine Lizzie, I'll be fine. But please don't tell anyone, I want to test it first," I shook my head.

"No. Bon. I can't do that, I'm sorry. At least let Damon take a look, tell him you found it in the book." She looked at me and stormed out of the door, like the grass I was, I phoned Damon on his mobile. He was less than happy to hear from me since I hadn't spoken to him in a week, but I told him about the spell and that Bonnie was going to cast it. "Well it seems to me that you're getting involved again in something that's none of your business, Elizabeth. Bonnie wouldn't be that stupid, she's probably getting you back for telling her that I'll break her heart." I lost it at that point with him and looking back I should have probably just hung up and spoke to Stefan straight away, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and I'm just no good at keeping my temper around Damon. "You're an effing arse Salvatore! You're girlfriend's going to summon the Morrigan to help her with the spell and then she'll be in serious trouble but you don't seem to care, perhaps Stefan's right after all about you." I cut him off and phoned Stefan, who promised he'd be right over but that it could take him about twenty minutes, all I could do was wait. Bonnie had locked the door on me and I couldn't get in her room, so I sat outside trying to talk her out if it and failing.

fifteen minutes later a furious Damon was standing in front of me, he asked Bonnie to open the door and she told him to go away, I gave him a triumphant look of I told you so and he snarled at me with his fangs bared. "Be careful Elizabeth, be very careful. I'm in no mood to tolerate stupid clingy humans today," I slapped him good and hard round the face, my hand stung and his cheek reddened for a second. I stared at him with tears springing to my eyes, "fuck you Damon! You're a fucking arsehole! I hate you so much right now." I ran at him and started hitting him, but he caught hold of my arms, his face cold and hard.

Suddenly there was a noise from inside the room and we both stopped. Damon opened the door with one easy push and I followed him inside, there was a dark presence inside the room- she had successfully summoned the Morrigan who were the Mother, Maiden and Crone of the Celts. The maiden was also the Goddess of War and Death, she also had great powers if she chose to bestow on the favoured few, although not without a price.

Bonnie stood in the circle in a trance, Damon tried to step over the candles but the circle was closed and there was too much power for him to do anything, I walked straight into the circle to his amazement and tried to snap Bonnie out of her trance by talking to her at first and then being more forceful by shaking her but she didn't move. I heard a woman laugh which made me angry and with all my strength I shoved Bonnie out of the circle and that's when it broke with a bang and a flash of light, I remember Damon screaming my name and the woman laughing, then everything went black and I screamed as I fell and fell.

Suddenly I could see the sky above me and I fell onto someone, then I think I blacked out.


	14. Aftermath

I came to and my first thought was that my head really hurt, then I noticed him standing over me; angry and confused.

I became aware that I was lying on my back in a wood, there was someone standing over me- he looked angry and wary.

"Oh crap," I moaned, his face remained expressionless but I could see the fury in his eyes. He'd been in my jeans pocket while I was out and had found my phone, I could see it in his hand. "Is this some sort of phone? Why do you have a picture of my brother and me on it?"

Oh shit! I'd forgotten about the background picture that I took when I got my new phone. "It's a mobile phone- Americans call it a cell phone. Where am I? What's the date today?" He gave me a sharp look and his eyes narrowed, there was no getting out of this.

"Look, you're not going to believe me when I tell you and right now I don't know if I'll make any sense anyway. My head hurts and I've done something to my leg. Can we go somewhere warm with painkillers and I'll explain."

"No. Explain now, or your next words will be your last," the fangs extended but he didn't move. "My friend is a witch, she's still discovering her powers and she found an old spell for time travel. She translated the spell using a Latin dictionary and I tried to stop her but she'd already cast it, I tried to stop her but I got caught up in it. Only judging by your accent I'm guessing that I travelled to another continent as well as back in time. I don't want to tell you much, or else it might affect the future." He looked at me with suspicion and doubt, then with a movement so quick I didn't know what was happening I was in his arms and he was carrying me through the woods.

"Where are we going?" I heard the fear creep into my voice, this wasn't my Damon and there was no telling what he would he do. "Somewhere warm with painkillers," came the reply and I relaxed a little.

"Where am I and when am I?"

"A small town in Virginia called Fells Church and the year is 1992, to be precise 14th July 1992." By now I was in the Ferrari and we were driving across a bridge that was built over a large river- I guessed this was the new Wickery Bridge, Damon put his foot down and we sped over it.

We didn't talk until we came to a huge rundown house that from the looks of it was the boarding house.

He opened the door to my side of the car and helped me out as I leant on the car door for support, "wow. Nice house," I said as I caught my breath.

"It's not mine, it's a boarding house but the old lady that runs it won't mind." No sooner as he said that then the old lady in question came to the door, "oh you poor girl! Look at the state of you, bring her inside and I'll get her cleaned up and a hot cup of coffee inside of you," then she bustled back inside and suddenly I found myself in Damon's arms in a large kitchen, he set me down gently and I sat in the chair behind me while Mrs Flowers made me a cup of coffee and gave me a flannel to clean myself up with. "You've badly sprained your leg, you got anywhere to stay?" she asked, "erm, no I haven't."

"Thought not. You can stay here if you like, I'm sure your nice young man here will be able to give you money for food and clothes if you don't have any," I opened my mouth to protest but before I could say anything she continued with "and don't you mind about paying me any rent either. You can help me with some housework when your leg's okay." I turned to Damon with my mouth open and he looked equally surprised, but his expression soon changed into his usual expressionless mask, "you take good care of her now, d'you hear me?" she winked at Damon as she shuffled out of the kitchen.

I swallowed a couple of aspirin and took a gulp of coffee; I put my head in my hands and sighed. The chair at the other end of the table was drawn and as he sat down. "Warm and with painkillers, now I want an explanation before I become bored with you and kill you," I couldn't help it; I swear it came out before I could stop it. "Don't be such an arse Damon, I'm not buying time and I fully intend to tell you what I can," I looked him in the eyes and they were stone cold, big oops.

"Don't be a stupid fool, girl. I'm extremely dangerous and I could kill you any time I liked and there's nothing you can do about it, in fact, you'd be dead before you realised what was happening to you."

"Fine. Whatever. I'm not getting into an argument with you, I hurt too much and our arguments usually involve me getting hurt anyway." He looked surprised and angry, so I told him briefly that I was from the future where I lived with him and his brother in a large house. I also told him that I was a close friend of both of them and then I asked politely if I could have my phone back.

He whipped it out of his pocket and I watched as he brought up a picture of Elena, Bonnie and I on the sofa with a glass of wine in each of our hands. "Tell me about this picture and I might let you have it back," I swore silently that I would never have another camera phone ever again if I could go back right now, but of course that didn't happen. "No, please Damon. I can't; I want to, but I can't."

"I don't like you, whoever you are. Oh I know you're telling me the truth but I don't like humans who withhold information like this from me," he was standing over me and was holding my head back by a fistful of my hair, my neck was exposed and his face was within a hair's breadth of mine. "Tell me, who's the blonde girl in the photo?"

"No. Did I mention that you can't influence me as someone who was once very close to my heart taught me how to block it." He snarled and suddenly he bit me, I cried out as his drove his fangs into my neck, I tried to relax into it but he lifted his head and bit me again.

By the time he finished I was very weak and my neck had several marks on it, he had wanted to make me suffer and he achieved it with aplomb, he stood over me and glared. "Tell me."

"No. I can't and I won't." I wasn't scared, just very upset and hurt by my treatment, he snarled again, blood still around his mouth. He threw my mobile on the floor and the back fell off, but his eye was caught by two passport sized photos that fell out, he picked them up and stared. I saw the one he was staring at and explained, "I was trying to have my passport photo taken and you ran into the booth at the last second, it turned out to be a great photo."

"And this one?" His voice sounded strangled, he showed me the other one and I tried to laugh but it hurt too much. "I got Stefan to help me get my own back on you by interrupting you while you were having yours updated." He flipped it over and my heart stood still as he read the writing on the back out loud.

"This means war sister. It's in my handwriting, but sister? Where did you get this from? This has to be a forgery as I'd never be so stupid as to trust a human like you, who do you think I am? My brother?"

"You're not your brother and I'm well aware of that fact. You're a dangerous psychopath that doesn't trust anyone whether they're human or not. When you do open up and start trusting people it just takes one wrong move by that person for you to go psycho and hurt them both mentally and physically! So fuck you Salvatore!"

I stood up suddenly from the chair completely forgetting about my ankle, I cried up and ended up in a crumpled sobbing heap on the floor. Damon just stood there, I could almost feel his shock at being spoken to like that from a human, especially one that he had just bitten. "Is everything okay in here? I thought I heard yelling," came the voice of Mrs Flowers. "Everything's fine, she just tried to get up from her chair and forgot about her ankle. No need to worry, I'll take care of her." I could hear him say smoothly. "Just you make sure that you do," came the reply, then she shuffled away.

I crawled on my hands and knees over to my phone, then sat on the floor putting it back together. "Are you always this much trouble?" he sounded fed up and dare I say it resigned, as though he was about to give in.

"No, sometimes she's even worse." I sat up and cleared the hair from my face, there was another Damon in the kitchen- this was getting weird.

He moved slowly around the old Damon and knelt next to me, "let's get you home," his voice was as cold as steel and it cut me deeper than the bite marks on my neck, but he picked me up and walked up to the other Damon with me in his arms. "Go back to the woods, none of this has happened and you will just carry on with what you were doing before."

Then he muttered some words that sounded like Latin and we suddenly back in my room in Grove House.

He lay me down on the bed without a word and went to walk out. "Damon." He whipped around, his eyes coal black.

"What?"

"Thank you and I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what Elizabeth? Sorry for presuming that I was only after Bonnie's blood and not her? Or Sorry for being my brother's mouthpiece when he didn't have the courage to come forward and tell me himself?

I'm beginning to wish that I hadn't met you, I hate the way you waltzed into our lives and turned everything upside down. I hate the way you flirt with me and then hide behind your boyfriend, I hate the way every time we have an argument you leave the house and then suddenly it's all my fault for forcing you out.

You're trying to change who I am and I hate it, Elizabeth, but most of all I hate the fact that you're a stupid, pathetic, clingy woman who's mentally a fucked up teenager who blames all her failures throughout her life, on her parents divorce at the age of ten and most of all I hate that I can never look you in the eyes again without remembering what I've done to you even though I know that you forgive you and what you did was the right thing."

I stared, my jaw open, I'd never heard him talk about his feelings before and by this outpouring I suddenly felt that I'd pushed him over the edge.

"I'm sorry for everything Damon. I'll do anything I can to make to make it right, I promise." I could just about whisper by now, my throat was so sore. "You can't change Elizabeth, that's just it! You're a pathetic fool who's always the victim, what's even worse is that if it weren't for you I wouldn't be living this stupid charade." His eyes were blazing with anger, I didn't know what to say but after being called pathetic for a second time the tears had been replaced with my own anger and Damon had done something that no one had done to me for years- he pushed my self destruct button.

"How dare you! I never asked for any of this! You're the one who turned up on my doorstep the day after I met you to borrow my books, because you couldn't be bothered to buy yours! I went for a walk in the park and you two turned up- so tell me how it's my fault that you're living this 'stupid charade' Damon? I may be fucked up teenager in my head who blames everything on my parents divorce, but you've been fucked up far longer than me and you blame all your woes on Stefan- tell me Damon, do you blame him for your mother's death? You blame him for Katherine's death I know that. If you can't stand me or this place then fuck off back to Florence and stay there!" I screamed at him.

He snarled at me, a barely contained snarl and then he was gone, leaving me alone in my room.


	15. Do Open Wounds Ever Heal?

_I was too weak to move but I heard a door slam somewhere in the house and then there was nothing._

_When I woke up it was night and I tried to gingerly stand, my ankle was still very painful but I managed to hobble to Damon's room using the walls as a support, I knocked but there was no answer. I called his name and there was still no answer, with dread and fear I opened the door to find it bare. _

_Damon is a vampire who doesn't like possessions other than his Ferrari anyway, but the few photos that he hung on his wall of us and one of him and me that he managed to get from a photographer in Atlanta were gone. I hobbled into his room and found them in the bin, the glass in all of the frames were either cracked or shattered, I checked his wardrobe and his clothes had gone. I sat on his bed and cried my heart out._

_Stefan eventually found me, he was far from sympathetic. "What the hell have you done Lizzie? We took you in and treated you like a sister, you didn't want for anything and yet you repay our kindness by driving my brother away? I thought better of you, I really did." I started crying all over again, unable to find the words to tell Stefan how sorry I was, how I never meant for it to get this far but I was only doing what he had asked me to. "Stefan! It's not her fault, you can't blame her for telling Damon what you asked her to!" came Bonnie's voice from the door, Stefan hung his head and then turned to look at Bonnie, "that's not relevant Bonnie. There are other reasons besides that and Lizzie is behind every one. I'm sorry Lizzie, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the house. I'll do all I can to help you find somewhere but I can't have you here any longer."_

"_You can't do that Stefan!" Bonnie sat besides me on the bed and hugged me. Stefan's face was cold with anger, I shrugged Bonnie off. "He's right Bon, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused. I didn't want any of this to happen." I got off the bed and started hobbling towards the door._

"_What did you do to your ankle?" Stefan asked, he sounded fed up._

"_Nothing, it's just a sprain," I muttered and carried on hobbling towards my room, then he was in front of me and holding me at arms length, he looked furious. "What about your neck?"_

"_I don't want to talk about it. It was my fault anyway, can I go and start packing now?" He looked me in the eyes and I could see the hurt in his almost matched mine. "Tell me what's going on Lizzie, you're like a sister to me and I'm worried about you." I shook my head at him._

"_I'm sorry Stefan, I really am. What you said is right, I'm a waste of space who causes trouble for everyone and it's best if I go." I hobbled past him and felt him staring at me._

_Once inside my room I broke down some more, then I packed up everything of mine and phoned Lee at work to tell him what had happened. As it turned out, the one person that I thought would always be there for me wasn't, "every time Lizzie. Whenever you have a row with Damon we have to move out, every time. I can't take this anymore, I'm sorry. I still love you but I can't be with you anymore, I want to be in a stable relationship without having to find somewhere to live every five minutes because you've had an argument. You need to get some help, I can't cope."_

_So my life was in tatters, over the next few days I felt numb, Damon had dumped Bonnie so she and Elena flew to the US to be with Meredith who was alone while Alaric was off somewhere doing a case study on his own._

_Stefan found me a nice flat that he kindly paid for and helped me move, he told me how sorry he was to be doing with this but he said that it would be for the best and he wouldn't tell Damon where I was, so that there wouldn't be any more destructive arguments._

_As I closed the curtains I spotted Stefan's Porsche outside the flats and I heard his voice in my head not to cry as he'd always be there for me and I'd still be welcome round his house- I was still his little sister, that made me cry and I eventually cried myself to sleep._

_I woke up at about 5.30 in the morning, I felt miserable and lonely. I'd driven away everyone I loved and my world had collapsed, I had never felt so worthless so I did the only thing that someone as messed up as me would do- I took every pill in the house which amounted to about eight boxes of painkillers as if I needed them at work I went out and bought another packet and took them home to add to my ever growing and ever disappearing collection as I frequently lost them._

_Before I passed out I wrote a DNR on a piece of scrap paper declaring that although I was mentally fit I had decided to end my life and I didn't want anyone to resuscitate me._

_I woke up in hospital, Stefan was in a chair besides my bed. He looked really pale and tired, his eyes looked puffy as though he's been crying. For the first few minutes I wasn't quite all there, I have vague recollections of pulling the oxygen tube out of my nose and trying to cough up a tube that was down my throat, it was really sore and I asked for a cup of tea. Stefan was telling me not yet, then he went off and appeared with a cup of tea for me which I thought was really odd, he just smiled and told me that I asked him twenty minutes ago._

_I drank the tea gratefully and felt nearly human, I lay back and looked at Stefan. "Why am I still here?"_

"_Because I gave you blood and ripped up you DNR note. I'm so sorry Lizzie, I never wanted to hurt you and I didn't realise that you felt like this." He took my hand and squeezed it tightly._

"_It wasn't you Stefan, everything just got to me. Damon leaving, stuff that happened between us and then Lee leaving me. I couldn't cope and I didn't have anyone to talk to."_

"_You had me Lizzie! You could have called me day or night anytime! That's what brothers are for, you've always come to me with your problems in the past so why not now?" I felt mean and selfish and I just started crying, suddenly Stefan was leaning over me and pulled me towards him so I was pressed against his chest, he muttered stupid nothings until I calmed down._

"_They're going to keep you here for a few days to make sure everything's okay.."_

"_Then It's the nuthouse," I smiled bitterly, "the one place I didn't want to go hence the DNR. Thanks Stefan, you should have just left me alone to die."_

"_Do you never learn? My brother just saved your pathetic, worthless life and instead of thanking him and being grateful you're still alive." Damon suddenly appeared inside the curtain surrounding my bed. "Why should I be grateful that I'm still alive Damon? Come to think of it why are you even here if you hate me that much?" He didn't snarl as I expected him to, he just hung his head and looked at the floor. "Look, it was nice of you to pretend that you cared about me and that I was your little sister, you're both really good actors and very generous, but I don't belong with you. I never did, I want you to finish the job you started Damon. You know what I mean."_

"_No!" He snapped, Stefan looked from him to me and sunk his head in his hands. "Just stop this! Please! Don't you see what you're doing to her Damon? You're making things worse, just tell her, please." Stefan looked imploringly at his brother, who in turn looked daggers at Stefan, fists clenched. "No, I want nothing more to do with her, brother. You may be able to cope with someone with this many issues but I'm not about to even try." With that he was gone again._

"_See, I always drive everyone away Stefan. You shouldn't have ripped up the DNR." _

"_Stop saying that Lizzie! I don't want you to die and neither does Damon, you're just going to have to trust me on this one. Look, you need your rest and so do I. I'll see you tomorrow." He gave me a kiss on the head and walked off, I sank my head back on the pillow suddenly feeling exhausted and then I drifted off to sleep._

_I napped throughout the night, every hour throughout a nurse came in to take my blood pressure and monitor my heart rate. They changed the saline solution bag every time the alarm on the machine went off, by the time the night shift came to hand over to the day shift I was exhausted and faced a constant stream of doctors and nurses talking about me and attaching me to machines and drips, I wished I were really dead so I'd be at peace from all of this, "you're not. So you'd better get over it and while you're at it, you might want to spare a thought for my brother who has barely eaten or slept in the 2 days you've been in a coma."_

"_What are you doing here? If you haven't come to put me out of my misery then I don't want you here." I sighed, Damon was the last person I wanted to see. "I'm here to say that none of this was your fault. Hear me out before you interrupt, at least allow me that." I nodded and Damon proceeded with uncharacteristic remorse, "I bit you back in 1992 but for you it happened the day before yesterday and you are understandably upset about it, if I had listened to you this would never have happened. My brother shouldn't have asked you to interfere between Bonnie, you did it because you wanted peace in the house. I'm having your stuff put back in your old room, it's my house and no one can argue with me."_

"_I don't want to go anywhere Damon. I want to die, I want you to end it for me. I'm so fucked up I can't even commit suicide right." I felt tears trickle down my face, Damon was suddenly besides me and then he was at the end of my bed again._

"_I have to go away for a while Elizabeth, you need time without me to get better. When you're better I'll come back, you have my word and in case you don't believe me; because I know you, I've left you a little something to prove it. I'll see you soon Elizabeth." Then he was gone, I put my hands through my hair. My right hand felt heavy and there was a coldness on my middle finger when it touched my skin- I looked at my hand and it started to shake as I began to cry, he had left me his ring to look after._


	16. Conflicting Emotions

Stefan came as soon as visiting hours permitted, I was waiting impatiently for him. "Have you spoken to Damon?" I said the minute he came within a meter of my bed, "I haven't seen him since he was here yesterday. Why?"

"He came here last night. He said he had to go away until I get better," I took a deep breath, Stefan looked at me puzzled. "What's going on Lizzie? What's happened?"

"He said that I wouldn't believe that he wasn't coming back so he left me something to prove that he was." I held up my right hand and Stefan made a hissing sound, his face rigid with shock and fear as he saw his brother's ring on my finger. A couple of minutes later he shook himself out of it and gave me a weak grin, "trust my brother to take things to the extreme, you two need some sense knocked into you, you really do." Then seeing the look of confusion on my face he grinned and shook his head some more, "my brother wants you to know that he trusts you with his life despite everything he says and does. He'll be coming back, don't worry about that Lizzie.

The great Damon Salvatore always pops up when you least expect and want him to, you should know that by now. You are his biggest fan after all." That got me laughing, if only because it was true.

"Look, I'm sorry Stefan. About everything, I'll do whatever you want but don't let them put me in a psych unit, please." Stefan squeezed my hand and smiled, "Elizabeth Roberts. Do you really think I'd let that happen to you? Besides, all you stuff has been moved back into your room last night and knowing my brother it's all been taken care of already. you're still our little sister after all."

He stayed with me for a few minutes and then told me he had to go as the nurse was coming round to take blood samples, as he leant over me to kiss my forehead I grabbed him and gave him the biggest hug that I could give with a drip in my arm- it surprised him only for a second before he returned it.

I spent a week in hospital, by the end of it I was so desperate to get out that I was thinking seriously of ripping my drip out and seeing how far I could get before they spotted me. Finally the doctor pronounced that I was physically fit and well, he told me that I was to be released back into the care of my brother. Apparently, a visiting psychiatric consultant whose name he couldn't remember, had told him about a new treatment. Patients were treated in their home environment rather than being admitted and this eminent consultant had arranged to take me on as part of his trials and would be contacting me personally to arrange further treatment.

"You're a very lucky young woman, having such a doctor offer to take you on, you know. One of my junior nurses nearly fainted when he smiled at her. Well take care young lady and I hope not to see you again- in the nicest possible way of course." With that the doctor walked out and as soon as he had left I burst out laughing.

"You're not meant to laugh Lizzie, I seem to remember you practically swooning at the sight of him not so long ago." Stefan grinned.

"I have never swooned at Damon! I nearly swooned at you when I found out who you were," Stefan looked surprised at this. "But I never got the chance as his nibs came along and spoiled it," I poked my tongue out at Stefan who cracked up. "As long as I live I swear, I will never forget the look on my brother's face after you attacked him. I think that has to be one of my favourite memories, but don't try and change the subject young lady and you can't fool me with your little charade- I'm keeping a close eye on you. Now let's go, the hospital car park costs a fortune."

Stefan hadn't told Elena or Bonnie what I did, I did say I didn't want them to know, but he couldn't understand why I did something so desperate and I didn't particularly want to talk about either.

"I know you must have felt very down at everything that on Lizzie, but you could have come and talked to me. There was no need to do something like that and then ask us to kill you? I could never do that to you." He said to me a couple of days later during the ad break in a show I was watching, "I don't want to talk about Stefan. I understand that the things that happened to me must seem stupid in comparison to what you've been through and all I can say is that I'm sorry but I really don't feel like talking about my reasons." He tried to probe my thoughts but I just went up to my room and started playing on my computer leaving him alone downstairs.

Every night I went to bed I barely slept. I was so worried about Damon, I knew every detail of his ring inside and out and I would lay there with the curtains open wondering where he was and when he would come back. Stefan tried to keep my mind off it and although there were days when I appeared to be my normal self again and he relaxed a bit, most of the days I just put on a brave face and tried to act normally.

Bonnie and Elena kept in regular touch with Stefan, Elena had sat down with her Aunt and Robert and discussed things as civilised adults, she had told Stefan that although they had found things hard to swallow at first they were slowly coming round, although there was still a lot of work to be done before her Aunt would be able to fully accept Stefan.

Bonnie had a lot of explaining to do as well to her parents, she had taken extended leave from her job as a nurse in one of the surgical wards at the hospital to visit them with Elena to reassure them as all the publicity in Atlanta had raised some awkward questions such as what was their daughter hanging around with two vampires one of whom was a known murderer.

Stefan had stayed out of the way to give the girls a chance to talk with their parents, catch up with Meredith and have a bit of fun like old times, I knew he missed Elena deeply and got anxious when he didn't receive a phone call from her at the allotted time.

As the third week drew to a close despite Stefan's reassurances, I began to worry that the worst had had happened to Damon. I also began to realise for the first time that having him in my life was almost like an addiction; he had gotten used to and dare I say, accepted the small group of humans that he lived with. Some of his barriers had began to come down I like to think, because of my acceptance of his nature. There were times when I felt like the one person sticking up for him, I knew it amused him greatly and although Elena pushed him to care more for humans and to be a bit more like Stefan, when I pushed him I tried to explain my reasons and make him understand why he should do what I wanted him to do.

Then finally one night I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling extremely drowsy due to the anti-depressant it took me a few moments to realise that there was someone in the room. I touched the bedside light, a dull glow lit up the room and I saw a familiar figure standing besides me.

"Hi. I was beginning to think you'd never come back."

"You have my ring, of course I was coming back. I gave you my word didn't I? " Cue awkward silence, he sounded peeved and I couldn't think of what to say or do next, he just stood there. So I reached under my pillow and gave him his ring, "thank you for trusting me with it."


	17. Changes

"Don't flatter yourself Elizabeth. I left it with you because as long as you had that ring, you wouldn't do anything else to break up my brother's happy home. I'm leaving now, but I want you to give this to my brother for me tomorrow." He handed me a letter that was written in Latin, I nodded and put it on my beside table. If I wasn't feeling so numb and drowsy I would have cried, he was leaving for good and I'd probably never see him again."I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen." Damon's temper suddenly exploded "sorry? Have you any idea of the pain that you've caused my brother? If you can't handle the fact that I'm a vampire and I'll never be like you then you're not who I thought you were."

Damon has always been one of those individuals who only has to say one little thing for me to explode and no matter how drugged up I was, his comments penetrated through my drugged up haze and hit the bulls eye.

"Is that why you think I tried to kill myself? How can you say that? Yes, it really upset me that you massacred my neck, but that's not the reason why I tried to kill myself Damon.

You know what? All I ever wanted was to be friends with you and your brother, but all I ever seem to be doing is passing messages between you and Stefan; which funnily enough, caused half of my bloody problems in the first place!"

I jumped out of bed and grabbed the note that he'd given to me, tears welling up in my eyes. "I've really come to think of you two as my brothers but I was wrong wasn't I? I'm just your plaything and whenever I have a row with you, no matter who's fault it is I end up leaving and then when you decide you're fed up of just being with Stefan and the girls I'm allowed to come back."

Damon's eyes widened with shock, I shoved the note at him- "take your fucking note and give it to your brother yourself! I wish I'd never met either of you!" I burst into tears but Damon just stood there.

"You want to know why I wish I was dead Damon? Because up until recently I had two wonderful friends who were like brothers to me, a great place to live, two girls who were my best friends and a boyfriend who I thought was my soul mate- then I have an argument with you and suddenly it's all taken away from me. You hate me, Stefan wants me out of the house and Lee can't take the whole moving back and forth anymore so he dumps me. If that makes me a pathetic individual who can't cope then so be it, I'll be out of all of your lives as soon as I can and I don't want any financial help from either of you- that way you can't add gold-digger to my long list of faults!"

Damon grabbed my chin and forced it upwards so that I was forced to look into his eyes, he frowned and then released it, he sighed and looked over my head as though he was contemplating something.

"No one has ever thought of you as a gold digger, don't be so over dramatic Elizabeth. I started to become too much like my brother when I was here and I don't take kindly to being told what I can and cannot do by a human, I've become too attached to you and I don't like it. My brother thinks a great deal of you and doesn't wish to see any harm come to you, the only way to make sure that you didn't try and complete the job you started, was by trusting you with my ring, I've never done that to any human and I do not intend to do it again."

Somewhere inside my heart I felt a feeling as though a knife had been put through my chest and then twisted. "Okay, well just take care won't you and let Stefan know that you're okay occasionally," I turned away from him as the tears threatened and put a dressing gown on over my night dress. I heard an amused humph, I turned around to see Damon looking at a picture that had been taken just after we first met- the one where Damon had his arm around my shoulders but we both had massive grins on our faces, "my brother takes a good photo, not as good as the one we had done in Atlanta."

"No, the one of the two of us in Atlanta is my favourite. I felt like an actress at an awards ceremony in the dress that you bought me and with my hair and make up done." Damon put the picture down and smiled at me sadly, "you did look stunning in that dress and coupled with that perfume you were good enough to eat, you have no idea how much I wanted to taste your sweet blood again." I stared at him in surprise and shock, he met my gaze with something like shock and panic on his face, "forget I said that Elizabeth. I will bid you farewell and take my leave of you now."

"No! Damon, wait! Please!" I cried, he had the window open and was about to jump but I caught hold of his jacket, "what?" he snarled.

"Just come back inside a minute will you? It's freezing and I'm not talking to you when you're hanging half out of my window, the neighbours might think we're having some illicit affair or something." He laughed at this and climbed back in, closing the window behind him and once inside he turned the laugh off as quickly as it was turned on.

"Well? I don't have all night you know." I took a deep breath, I suddenly felt nervous, "I want you to have some of my blood. Call it a leaving present from me to you," he stared at me incredulously and sneered at me, "why would I want to do that? I already told you I'm not getting involved with you anymore."

"You said that you liked my blood and it's the only thing that I can give you to say thank you for all you've done for me. Besides, when I gave it you that night you had a fight with Stefan and turned up at my flat, I actually quite enjoyed it." Damon looked at me as though I was something nasty that he'd trodden on and next thing I knew he was gone and the window was wide open, I shut the window and decided to go downstairs to make myself a drink as I didn't fancy staying in my room.

As I boiled the kettle a voice behind me said softly "let me guess, he collected his ring and he's gone for good," I just nodded my head. Stefan hated girls crying except Elena, but that was only because he knew how to comfort Elena and he felt awkward around anyone other girl.

"Oh Lizzie. You were in love with him weren't you?" I started sobbing with my face in my hands, hands turned me round gently by the shoulders and held me tight against his chest as I cried

"You don't deserve my brother, you know. You're too good for him," I laughed at that much to Stefan's confusion. "Where have I heard that line before?" I grinned at him and then the realisation hit him, he laughed and rolled his eyes, "you really are beyond all help, you know that?" this time we both laughed and it made me feel better.

I made my tea and took it upstairs to drink it, Stefan gave me a brotherly kiss on the head and told me that the girls were coming back from America in the next few days so they'd make sure I forget about him.

I smiled wearily and wished him goodnight. I went into my room and put my tea on my bed side table, suddenly a voice behind me said very softly "I've changed my mind. I think I'll take you up on your offer after all," I whipped round wide-eyed to see Damon standing behind me so close I automatically took a step back.

He smiled gently and reached up with this right hand, placing it on my cheek and brushing the wetness just below my eyes oh so softly with his thumb. Then he bent down and kissed me full on the lips, I felt emotionally raw and vulnerable but I wanted this and he knew it, so I returned the kiss and I felt his arm slide from my face down to my waist where he pulled me against him, still kissing me. I put my arms round his waist and the kiss intensified, then he kissed my cheek with butterfly kisses all the way down until he reached my neck, then he stopped and drew back.

"This won't change anything Elizabeth, I'm still going," my heart sank but I forced a smile. "I've already said that it's a leaving present," he stared at me with those coal black eyes with white lights in them that seemed to resemble stars, then he kissed me more passionately this time and placed one hand behind my head and gently pulled it back, then he struck.

It was so quick that all I felt was a sharp sting which resembled the sting of a needle when you had an injection, the pain ceased almost immediately and I began to relax so much that I was almost in a trance. The weirdest feeling came over me, it was an intense pleasure and need, but there was love mixed in with it as well. Then I hit another layer, sadness, loneliness, fear and anticipation; but it wasn't fear of this, it was fear of being hurt and of things being too good to be true.

I had the strangest feeling that these were Damon's feelings, he stopped and pulled away from me. I sat weakly down on the bed and he sat next to me with one arm around my shoulder so my head rested on his shoulder, "Damon, I…" but he put his finger on my lips to silence me.

"You should get some rest Elizabeth, you'll be very weak and languid tomorrow." I sighed, I felt peaceful, calm and happy, I didn't want to move but Damon got up and walked over to the chair where he had put his jacket.


	18. Surprise!

I sat there on the edge of the bed with my arms folded trying to make sense of my emotions by staring at the floor, I heard him pick it up and then drop it, I looked up and saw him frowning at me.

"I'm staying in the area, just not at the house. I can't stay here any longer, but call me in two weeks and we'll talk."

Then he was gone.

Stefan agreed that he wouldn't tell Elena the whole story about why Damon left, just that we had a row and Damon decided to move out permanently, he hadn't told the girls and I didn't want them to know either.

The girls came back from the U.S full of the progress they'd made with their families and how wonderful it had been to go home, both had bought me some presents and had photos to show me but both were a bit jet lagged and needed their sleep so they went up to their rooms, but as they got upstairs Bonnie's psychic abilities sprung into action- "Why did Damon leave?" Elena turned to look at her friend in shock who also looked shocked herself, Stefan winced and I just sighed.

"We had a huge row and he's moved out permanently, but we're still friends. I'll explain tomorrow after you've had some sleep," I said but Bonnie wasn't about to let the matter drop. "Just great! So any chance of me trying to get back with Damon's gone then. Thanks for that Lizzie!"

Elena opened her mouth to say something but I noticed that Stefan squeezed her arm, so I said to her "you know something Bonnie? If it weren't for that bloody spell that you cast, the time travel one I told you not to then you wouldn't have split up with Damon and he wouldn't have moved out. It was because of your spell that all this happened- argument included! So if you want to get back with Damon then call him, I'm not passing on messages anymore for people who can talk for themselves!" I stormed off into my room and slammed the door, leaving the three of them opened mouthed.

The next morning there was a tentative knock on my door and both girls came in in their nightwear, I sat up in bed as they sat down on it. "I wanted to say I'm really, really sorry. You're right about what you said yesterday, but what happened when you went back Lizzie? It must have been something really bad for all this to kick off," I put my face in my hands and sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it, I'm sorry. Something bad did happen but I really want to forget about it." Both girls looked at me sympathetically, Elena grabbed my hand and held it "you don't have to Lizzie, but if you do then we're both here for you okay?" I nodded, then rolled my eyes as Bonnie sat there fidgeting. "No, I don't have any idea what's up with Damon, he said that he's left permanently and that he's rented a place nearby and if I call him in a couple of weeks when it's ready I can go visit," Bonnies' eyes narrowed when she spotted the mark on my neck. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It was my leaving present to him," Bonnie looked confused, Elena nodded in understanding, "trust and forgiveness. You wanted to show him that you trusted him and by taking your blood he was showing you that he forgave you, so the bond is still there between you two." I nodded, Bonnie enveloped me in a hug, "well we went shopping and bought you back a couple of killer tops that I know you'll love so what do you say we have a girl's night out tomorrow night, just you and I."

Elena glared indignantly at Bonnie, "what about me? Don't I get invited?"

"That depends on if Stefan's still got you chained to the bed, he was on tenterhooks every night waiting for your call and he got really worried if you phoned just five minutes late," Elena blushed and we all laughed.

The rest of the day the girls told Stefan and I all about what happened in Fells Church, how their families (Elena's in particular) were taking it and people's reactions.

They had brought back a couple of teen magazines that had pictures of the boys in, it seemed that although both boys had most of America's teen population in their thrall one of them was a tiny bit more popular than the other, Lisa Jane had given an interview about him and how shocked she was when he turned up on her doorstep (literally).

She had told the interviewer that although he said he hadn't known about the books for very long, he had read all of them and seemed to be very well informed on the fandom, their likes and dislikes.

She said that once she had gotten over the shock, she started questioning him about Stefan and the others. He told her what she wanted to know and then told her about me, how I was the one who helped them discover the full scale of their popularity through websites and fan fiction.

The rest of the interview was about her thoughts on the popularity of the books, the tv show and the characters revealing themselves, Elena said that everyone wanted an interview with them- especially Damon as every teen magazine had letters in it from fans saying they loved him and wanted him to bite them. Of course there was the usual Stefan vs. Damon in a couple of them with pros and cons of both brothers so that the reader could make up their own minds.

"Things have gotten way over heads now over there. Not everything was positive, there's been a lot of discussion in the papers if Damon's a murderer, if biting girls is rape and if they've committed fraud," Elena looked terrified. "What's going to happen when it comes out over here? I'm scared some stupid girl is going to come forward saying that Damon bit her without her consent just to get money and fame." I nodded and Bonnie said "I'll have to cast a protection spell around everyone and the house if it gets bad enough."

The next night Bonnie and I had our girlie night out, we went to a cocktail bar and although we only intended to have one or two before clubbing, we tried each cocktail on the menu at least twice before going onto a club and dancing the night away. About halfway through the night we met a friend of Bonnie's from work, tall with brown eyes and blonde hair, he was quite good looking and he seemed to fancy Bonnie as much as she did him so when I went to the bar to get drinks and they had disappeared, it wasn't a major shock. I found them in a corner together, Bonnie said they were going back to his place so I said I'd get a cab back and I'd call her once I'd got there, but she'd have to call me to tell me where she was as well.

The agreement made I made my way outside and started staggering towards the taxi rank when a black Ferrari roared up in front of me and a familiar figure got out, he stood there leaning against the car with his arms crossed.

"Where's Bonnie?"

"She pulled and she's going back to his house," he looked furious, "she said she'd give me a buzz to let me know where she was when she got to where she was going. She knows him from her work apparently."

Damon stood there, his expression hadn't changed and I wasn't in a particularly good mood myself, so I slipped my heels off and walked barefoot past him on my quest for the taxi rank down the end of the road.

"Where do you think you're going?" he was suddenly in front of me,

"Taxi rank, where else would I be going?" I snapped, which made him raise an eyebrow but I just walked round him and kept going for all of two seconds until I found myself in his arms, being carried back to the car.

"Let me go will you! I'm perfectly capable of walking to the taxi rank and getting a taxi home!" I had my arms round his neck anyway, he rolled his eyes and sighed. "I'd rather make sure that you got home safely myself if you're going alone. I'll have to deal with Bonnie later." He set me down and I got into the car, "I've still got a key to Grove House, you're lucky." I didn't say anything as we drove away, I just stared out the window.

He pulled up in the drive and I opened the car door to slip my heels on to walk over the gravel to the front door, but suddenly Damon was standing there and then I was in his arms again and he unlocked the front door. He put me down once inside and I just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "Thank you, sorry I snapped. I was having such a good night until Bonnie pulled, she didn't even tell me she was going with him- I had to find them in a corner."

"I'll find her and make sure she's okay, now you're home safe and sound, ciao piccolina." He went to walk out the front door but then turned around and stared at me, then my phone rang. The moment spoilt it was a drunken Bonnie giving me the address and the name of the person who she was with, I grabbed a pen and pad and wrote it down when I hung up he was still standing there. "Do you fancy some company for a bit?" I asked him, a grin suddenly spread across his face, "do you fancy coming over to my place? I'll grab a bottle of something, you go and sit in the car," so that's what we did, I didn't even leave a note for Stefan which was bad for me as I knew he'd worry.

Damon put his foot down when he got out of the drive and grinned at me as I held on for dear life, I laughed as I trusted him completely even though at times he drove like a maniac.

Damon had rented a flat not too far away from Grove House, very near Hampton Court Palace in fact, minimalist was the style I used but of course he didn't like possessions much, he asked me to sit down and got two glasses out of the cupboard and a corkscrew for the sweet red wine that he knew I loved so much.

I was beginning to sober up a bit but wasn't reading too much into it, "go put on some music if you like, I know you when you get back from clubbing, you like to carry on the party in the living room. Regardless of who else has to listen to it," I laughed and went over to look at his cd rack, there was quite a selection but none I fancied so I put the radio on, it was playing Taylor Swift. Damon groaned and poured two huge glasses of wine, I took a gulp of mine .

"I love this one, have you seen the video where she's singing in the mirror with the hairbrush?" He shook his head "Oh, do you remember driving to my house in the middle of the night, I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're 'bout to cry, and I know your favourite songs and you tell me 'bout your dreams.." I sang, Damon sat there wincing the whole time but laughing as I bounced about mimicking the video.

"You're a lunatic! I don't think I've ever seen you like this when you're drunk," he looked thoughtful, I just laughed loudly.

"I don't like that song. Let me put one on that we can dance to," he chose something that surprised me- "Michael Buble?" he grabbed me and we started to waltz quite quickly with him spinning me and pulling me back, "I love this," I said, laughing as the waltz turned into a foxtrot with Damon swirling me round and showing me what I should be doing with pictures that flowed in my mind.

"I'm really surprised that you like this, I didn't think it was your sort of your song," I said as it ended, he laughed.

"I don't mind it, it's a bit corny 'I just haven't met you yet' honestly, the video's just as bad. But it's a catchy tune for us to dance to that I knew you'd like, you have good rhythm and timing for someone so clumsy."

I laughed at that as we sat down on the chair, "I'll take that as a compliment," we laughed and I yawned.

"Why don't you stay here tonight? I have a spare bed, let me show you," he lead me the way to the bedrooms, I noticed that he had photos of Atlanta and a couple of ones from just after I bought my camera. "Stefan really didn't like it when you decided to have him take our photo did he?" I smiled, Damon laughed long and loud, "my brother isn't stupid, he could tell from the grin on your face you were more than happy to have a picture taken with me." I grinned at him, then laughed.

"What girl wouldn't be more than happy to have her picture taken with you?"

"Come on you, this is the spare bedroom, you've an en suite and I'll let Stefan know you're staying. You can wear this for tonight if you wish," he produced a black shirt that was just about big enough to be a night dress. "Thanks Damon," he bowed low and we grinned at each other.

"I'll let Stefan know you're here and where Bonnie is. Goodnight Elizabeth, sleep tight." He shut the door, I changed into the night shirt and was out like a light as soon as I got into the bed.


	19. Sparks Fly

The next day I awoke to the smell of coffee and toast.

I got out of bed and immediately regretted it as the room swam in front of my eyes- I was still drunk and it wasn't a nice feeling at all.

I noticed that a black shirt had been lain on the chair I tried it on and once I was satisfied that it was long enough I stumbled out of the bedroom downstairs to the kitchen where Damon flashed me a lightning grin as he handed me a mug of black coffee.

"Good morning! I trust you slept well and you feel nice and fresh this morning, raring to go are we?" The look I gave him made him laugh as he handed me the plate of buttered toast, "still drunk then," he observed as I tucked in hungrily to the toast.

"Since when did you make toast or coffee?" I dared to ask as he seemed to be in such a good mood.

"Oh I learnt a long time ago. Since I'm playing host to you today I'm going to be a good one, how is it?"

"Just as I like it, thank you."

He grinned and sat next to me on the sofa, "thanks for the loan of the shirt as well."

His grin spread and he laughed, looking me up and down evaluating my appearance. "It suits you, you're one of the few people I know that look feminine in a man's shirt."

I grinned at him and put my empty plate on the coffee table, I picked up my mug and curled up with my feet tucked under me. I took a sip of my coffee and smiled at him, "missed you."

That caught him off guard for a second, but being typical Damon he just laughed and didn't respond.

Suddenly his mobile sprung into life, I sighed and began to drink my coffee quickly as no doubt Stefan would be coming to pick me up once he knew I was awake.

"Hello brother, how are you? Good and how's the lovely Elena? I'm so glad, is Bonnie back yet ? She is? That's good, I'll be sure to let Elizabeth know when she wakes up."

Then after a pause he told Stefan, "she was very drunk last night and she's still asleep in the spare room, I'll get her to call you when she wakes up and sobers up a bit.

No, there's no need to do that, I'll drop her off once she's sober enough." He hung up and tossed his phone on the coffee table like an item of junk mail, "that boy can be so irritating at times. Don't you agree?" I laughed and shook my head.

Damon grinned at me "I don't know what you're laughing at, he's not the one who made me leave at least twice."

That wiped the smile off my face, I stared into the bottom of my cup but when I looked up his face remained impassive.

"Thanks for the breakfast and the loan of the shirt. I'd better be going now," I went into the kitchen to wash up my plate and cup as I ran the tap I felt his hand on my shoulder.

I turned around and his hand forced my chin up so I was looking in his eyes, "Elizabeth," I turned my face away and finished what I was doing, "I'll give Stefan a ring so he'll be here once I'm dressed. Sorry to cause you such inconvenience."

I went to storm off but he grabbed my elbow and swung me round, then he pulled me close to his body before I realised what was happening, "don't go. Stay a bit longer, for me." His face was an inch away from mine, it would be so easy to look up and kiss him but I wasn't sure that it was what he wanted- he would have to make the first move.

"That's not much of an apology for the way you've been treating me lately. You'll have to do a lot better if you want me to stay." I tried to wriggle out of his grasp but he held me tight, I was getting annoyed now but Damon wasn't having any of it.

"There's a reason for the way I've been treating you lately.

It started in Atlanta when you told me not to break Bonnie's heart because you'd been told by my brother that I was in love with someone else, then that stupid spell that Bonnie cast brought things to a head, it was safer for me to move out.

You trying to kill yourself because of the way my brother and I have treated you lately was unexpected, but didn't change the fact that I needed to leave the house.

It was time for me to move anyway."

"Get to the point, what's the reason?" Damon grinned at my tone.

"That I didn't realise how beautiful you looked in a formal dress until it was too late.

Stefan and I had already planned everything then you come along with your dress and make up, standing there on the side. To say you looked good enough to eat is an understatement, it took all of my control not to rip your neck out when you stood with us for the photos."

My jaw was fully opened, I'd forgotten about trying to wriggle out of his arms I just stood there dumbfounded.

"I was going to move out rather than tell you, then you walk down here this morning; your hair dishevelled, your make up still on, in my shirt. Elizabeth, you have no idea how much I want you right now, knowing especially that you only have a pair of panties on underneath my shirt and seeing your nipples poking out."

My jaw was unable to drop anymore even if it wanted to, I suddenly felt a bit faint and Damon released me a little bit so I could breathe a bit better. "I gather that wasn't the answer you were expecting.

To be honest, I expected a bit more of a positive reaction from someone who's written stories about me meeting them and kissing them since she was 14, which is how many years ago?" He raised an eyebrow but that last little comment had brought me back to my senses.

"Flippin hell Damon!

I had no idea that you had any intentions other than sisterly towards me, I didn't even see this coming and now you're expecting me to jump into your arms just like that!"

He let me go, his face expressionless but dark, I'd learnt to tell when he was upset by certain little things that people wouldn't normally see. "I want to know things before I jump into this," I said as I flopped into an armchair,

"Your fiction is a lot more romantic," he observed dryly.

"In my fiction it doesn't tell what happened to the girls after kissing you. You're left assuming that things are happily ever after, but happily ever after doesn't exist in the real world.

What do you want from me Damon? Am I going to be another companion? Who were your companions anyway?

Arm candy that you liked to be seen with? Or did you really love them?" He was surprised at this question a little hurt from the way his eyes flashed for a second.

"Would you question a human man this way? I don't think you would, you're questioning me because of what you read in those stupid kids books. You don't trust me do you?" he asked suddenly angry at me.

"I'm questioning you because you've been acting strange lately but I never thought I was the reason for it all.

I mean there's me in my baggy jumpers, jeans and walking boots and then there's Elena and Bonnie always fashionable, always looking good, you can understand why I'm so wary don't you?

I just don't want my heart broken Damon and I don't want to break yours either if things don't work out." I put my head in my hands and let out my breath, frustrated by not being able to get him to understand my fears. "Elizabeth! Why don't you just chill!" I stared at him in astonishment, I wasn't used to phrases like that coming from his mouth.

"That's what you're always telling me to do, so take your own advice. Relax, let's just see where it takes us, like any other relationship."

He sat next to me and looked at me with those fathomless eyes he knew I loved looking into, I relaxed and a smile started spreading across my face.

He suddenly leant across and kissed me full on, I let out a muffled cry of shock but he ignored it.

His lips were cool, not cold and so were his hands which wandered downwards, I turned my cheek to his lips and pulled on his hands, "aren't we going a bit fast for all of that?" I asked pointedly.

"No. You know me, I know you. Why waste time?" Then he started kissing my neck and scraping his fangs across it, I moaned and gave in.

Next thing I knew I was on his bed and he was taking his shirt off me, he tried the fang scraping thing again but as I arched my neck he caught a nerve and I cried out in pain.

Ever the gentlemen he stopped straight away and despite my protestations that I was alright he insisted on having a good look, neither of us heard the door and because he rarely used his powers Damon didn't sense Stefan until he was standing next to the bed demanding an explanation.


	20. The Truth Will Out

"Oh shit!" I tried to scramble out from beneath Damon but he held me firmly in place with one hand and deftly did up the buttons of his shirt at super fast speed with the other.

"Who invited you in?" snarled Damon, I really wished I wasn't in the middle of this.

"No one, no humans live in this flat. Not yet, anyway," he said looking at me pointedly.

"I came to see if you were okay, it's 4 O' clock and I hadn't heard from you. I'm sitting back at home worrying about you and then I come here and find you in bed with Damon!"

Damon opened his mouth to speak but my hand got in the way, I managed to wriggle out from underneath him, Stefan glared at my lack of clothes.

"Stefan! Please! Can we go downstairs so I can explain this?"

"No. Damon and I will go downstairs to discuss this. You are getting your clothes on and coming home Lizzie. Oh and remember that we can hear your every move so don't try anything, after you _brother_." Damon raised his eyebrows at Stefan but didn't say anything and he had a serious look on his face.

He wasn't angry, he wasn't threatening Stefan or cheeking him but was doing what Stefan wanted voluntarily without argument, I smelt a rat and there was nothing I could do about finding out what it was.

I got dressed and walked out the bedroom, they were arguing so loudly you couldn't help but hear them. "….You walked out on her when she needed you the most. Why now?

Don't tell me that you've suddenly realised how much you love her, of you loved her you wouldn't have disappeared when she was in hospital leaving her holding onto your ring!

She went through hell Damon and when you finally came back you left her for good!" Stefan was yelling.

I walked down the stairs listening intently. "I told you in Atlanta _little brother_, when I saw her in that dress I suddenly realised what my feelings for her were.

Even I can admit that I make mistakes on occasion, I tried to ignore them by dating Bonnie but you tipped her off that I wasn't particularly interested in her anymore.

I'm not even going to discuss the rest with you, it's between Elizabeth and I, but there is a very good reason for everything I do, I can assure you." Damon hissed the last part to Stefan but I was close enough to hear anyway.

"You've known since Atlanta as well?" I asked Stefan who jumped at the sound of my voice and looked guilty.

"So you wanted me to stop Damon from seeing Bonnie because you and Elena both knew that he loved me and not Bonnie. Does Bonnie know?"

"No, piccolina. Stefan knew because he still has a lot of the power that Elena bestowed upon him when she returned. He heard my thoughts when I saw you in that dress for the first time and he told Elena," explained Damon.

"Besides, after you gave me a piece of your mind the other night I wasn't sure that you actually thought of me as anything else but a brother." Stefan put his hand on my shoulder and grinned at me when I looked up at him.

"Damon! The girl's beyond all hope when it comes to you for crying out loud! She always has and probably always will be," I went red and hung my head.

"On top of that, she has five minutes to say goodbye to you while I get the car started, because it's now five O clock and her dinner's probably getting cold and she needs to tell the girls the good news." Stefan gave me a warning glance, Damon just looked amused.

We waited until Stefan was out of the door then I was in his arms and we were kissing, on the lips and then he moved lower to the neck.

"Tomorrow, Piccolina. Come round tomorrow so we can finish where we left off," it was a struggle not to tilt my head back as he nibbled on my neck.

"What about tonight? Don't tell me you've never sneaked into someone's bedroom before now through the window?" He gave a throaty chuckle and ceased kissing me, I saw his wolfish grin; "one or two. I'll see you tonight then about eleven then," he gave me a kiss that took my breath away.

Stefan's hooting broke the spell and I reluctantly got into the car, but the smile stayed on my face even after we got to the house.

"About time you got in! Uh Oh! I know that grin, Lizzie's in lurve!" Teased Bonnie, "who is he? Was he at the club last night?"

Elena came out of the kitchen with two plates of spaghetti Bolognese which Stefan hated as it was an English invention and not traditional Italian food.

"I thought Stefan said you stayed at Damon's last night?" she said confused, I grinned at both of them which made Stefan roll his eyes, "I did. I am in love."

The penny dropped with Elena first "oh my god! Well it's about time!" Bonnie was still looking confused.

"I don't follow, what's this got to do with Damon…. Oh, my, god Lizzie are you mad?" She said.

"Probably. But he feels the same way apparently, go figure."

Bonnie looked a bit upset, "I guess I had my chance didn't I? Well the best woman won in the end," she gave me a hug.

"Can we eat now? I'm starved!" I complained as I hugged Elena and Stefan, "all I had was a couple of slices of toast this morning at Damon's."

I sat down to eat my Bolognese trying to field the curiosity of Bonnie as to what happened in gory detail, ("nothing, Stefan came in at the wrong moment and dragged me back here") and then when Stefan was satisfied there was nothing more than a kiss exchanged between us he walked upstairs to his room, then paused halfway on the stairs.

"Is is it warm out tonight?" We all looked at him as if he were mad. "What do you mean by that?" asked Elena,

"I was just thinking that usually when it's warm people sleep with their windows open, but if it's not that warm out tonight she doesn't have an excuse.

He'll have to come in the front door won't he Lizzie?" I stared at Stefan gob smacked but he just laughed.

"My brother was always boasting of climbing in the windows of girls when we were human. He hasn't changed that much." I went red and everyone laughed at me.

Later that night I lay awake watching the clock, it struck eleven and nothing happened, no tap on the window, no knock at the door. It was almost two minutes past when the door opened and Damon walked into my room.

"Since I own the place I didn't think anyone could object," he said with a wolfish grin at the expression on my face, I shook my head and laughed.

I went to put the bedside lamp on but he stopped me by placing his hand over mine, "no, Bella. There's no need for light,"

He said before he kissed me passionately, it took my breath away and he knew it.

"Is this one of your interesting things?" he laughed at that and replied "possibly. You'll just have to find out won't you?"

The End- for now


End file.
